


Past and Pending

by Sableu3



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But I added a plot outline at the end so you aren't left hanging too much, F/M, Fix-It, Season/Series 01, Season/Series 06, The Anomaly - Freeform, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 29,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24188986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sableu3/pseuds/Sableu3
Summary: Clarke and Bellamy go through the anomaly, end up back on Earth, and run into their younger selves.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 194
Kudos: 371
Collections: The 100 Fix Its and Rewrites, the 100 works in progress





	1. Chapter 1

Clarke gasps in a breath and tries to wrap her head around what she’s seeing. She turns to Bellamy while keeping her eyes locked on their younger selves. “Bell?!” She sounds slightly hysterical and she squeezes his hand and tries to take a deeper breath to calm down.

“Who the fuck are you?” The younger Bellamy asks as he stands and drags the younger Clarke up and behind him. Atom’s body is lying dead behind them, a gruesome time stamp to when they are.

Clarke lets out a startled laugh. “Oh my god.” A hand comes up to cover her mouth. She turns fully to Bellamy now, “What if we’re really in the past? We could fix it! Change things!” She wouldn’t have to be Wanheda. She could save them from so many mistakes and deaths. Suddenly that thought consumes her and becomes larger than her disbelief. 

She tugs on his hand and Bellamy finally tears his eyes away from the scene to look at her, “What if this is just a hallucination caused by the anomaly?” His eyes dart back to their younger selves who are watching them in shock. 

“We’re seeing the same thing. It’s not a hallucination. Bellamy.” Her voice softens and she looks at him with pleading eyes, “We could save them. We know what’s coming, we might even be able to prevent Praimfaya.”

“Save us from what? What’s coming?” The younger Bellamy speaks up. Clarke thinks it might only be because she knows him so well, after all this time, that she can see how scared he is. 

“From the grounders, from the mountain men, from the second apocalypse.” She looks back to her Bellamy and silently begs him.

“What if it’s not real? What about Octavia?” His voice cracks and the look on his face is desperate. She’s not sure if he wants this to be real or not. She’s not sure if he knows if he wants this to be real or not. If it is, there’s no going back. They’ll change things and be the only two to remember what would have been. 

But they’ll change things and know they did better for their people. “What if it is real?” She looks between his eyes, “Bellamy, I want to try. Maybe this is how we can do better.”

He sucks in a breath and closes his eyes for a moment. “Okay, Princess.” He tightens his grip on her hand, “Let’s do better.” The smile he gives her is a bit shaky but she doesn’t mind. She throws her arms around him and holds tight. He buries his head in her hair and hold her just as tightly for a moment.

“What the hell?” The younger Clarke is staring at them in shock. 

The older couple pull slightly away from each other and look over at their younger selves. They look so shocked by the embrace and Clarke can’t help but let out a giggle, still high on possibilities. Bellamy chuckles too and turns to them with an arm still around Clarke. 

“Get used to it. I’ll tell you right now, this girl means _everything_ to me.” Bellamy is looking his younger self in the eye and nods his chin at the younger Clarke “Don’t underestimate her. She’s stronger than you think.” His younger self glance back at the girl and looks back to Bellamy and gives a nod.

Clarke feels a lump forming in her throat but the grin wont leave her face. She squeezes his waist with the arm she still has around him before looking to her younger self. “And give him a chance. He may be an total ass sometimes but he is the _best_ person I’ve ever known.”

Bellamy rolls his eyes at her, “Gee thanks, Princess.” 

She grins up at him and pushes her tears back down her throat. With one last squeeze she lets him go and gets down to business. “Okay, first things first. We need to get to Charlotte before she kills Wells.”

“What?!” The younger Clarke starts towards them, “What are you talking about?”

Clarke takes a deep breath and begins to explain with a brief apologetic look at Bellamy, “Bellamy was trying to help her with her nightmares. He told her to slay her demons while she was awake so she wouldn’t have to face them while she slept. Since her nightmare are about her parents being floated by Jaha, she takes that to mean she has to kill Wells. It won’t happen this time, okay?” She wanted to put a hand on her younger selfs shoulder, try to reassure her in some way, but she can’t bring herself to touch her yet. It’s too weird.

“Shit.” The younger Bellamy rubs a hand down his face and lets out a big sigh. “Okay. I’ll talk to her after I get someone to bury Atom. Clarke, you go warn Wells.” He looks over at them and hesitates. “How old are you guys anyway?”

Clarke is slightly taken aback though she should have expected the question. She looks over to Bellamy and sees his smirk. She knows he’s going to fuck with them and tries to hold back a smile. “Technically? I’m 154. She’s 149.”

Clarke rolls her eyes, still fighting her smile. “Technically, you don’t age during cry-sleep so you’re only 29. I’m 24.” 

“Fuck. Okay.” The younger Bellamy rakes a hand through his hair, trying to process. “Okay. You need to come back with us and explain everything. I’ll have someone keep an eye on Charlotte for now. I can’t-”

Clarke took pity on him, “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to talk to her tonight. It doesn’t happen until tomorrow night and we can just include Wells in our talks.” She looks over to her Bellamy, “We should include the others too. Monty and Harper, obviously. Octavia, Miller, Raven, Jasper.” She frowns thoughtfully for a moment. “What about Murphy?” 

If they are changing things he wont be accused of Wells’ murder and hanged by a mob before being exiled and tortured by grounders. He’s still a dick right now though, so she isn’t sure if they can trust him at this point or not. 

Bellamy looks like he’s thinking it over as he rubs a hand over his chin. “I don’t know. This is Pre-Emir Murphy but I kind of want to give him a chance.” He smiles wryly and Clarke nods. She’s nervous about him at this point but leaves the decision in Bellamy’s hands. He’s Spacekru after all.

But so was Echo, she thinks, and the Echo of this time is dangerous. Clarke keeps her mouth shut but her brow crinkles in worry. She wants this chance to change things but she isn’t sure if Bellamy has realized the other consequences of that yet. The Echo he knew is gone and the circumstances that shaped her into who he knew will never happen now. 

She puts it out of her mind and puts a smiles on her face. “Okay, let’s get going then.”

* * *

As they are walking back to the drop ship Bellamy jerks to a stop and pulls Clarke with him, “Clarke, wait.” 

He sounds slightly panicked and she turns to him, brows puckered in concern. “What is it?”

He swallows and looks at the ground before looking back at her. He’s nervous or embarrassed. “Sorry, it just- I just realized that when we start changing things, the things that brought us together might not happen.” He looks away again, “That day trip, when you told me I wasn’t a monster, when you gave me forgiveness.” He takes a deep breath and looks her dead in the eyes. She can see his nervousness turn into determination. “We need to sit them down and explain those things too. You have no idea what that day meant to me and that was just the start. I don’t know what I’d do without you and I don’t want to watch them to find out.”

She can feel the tears well up and knows there’s no holding them back this time. “We will. We’ll tell them everything.” And at some point she’ll pull her younger self aside and tell her to grab onto him and never let go, to love him with everything she had. She didn’t want her to make the same mistakes she did. 

He tugs her closer and touches his forehead to hers, eyes closed and just breathes in. It’s the relief that they’re on the same page, back in sync with each other. They only have a moment though before the younger Bellamy loudly clears his throat.

When they look over, their younger selves are waiting on them and looking pretty uncomfortable. It makes her snort in amusement and she can hear Bellamy chuckle quietly too. They resume their trek though. 

Clarke thinks that maybe, once they save the world again, her and Bellamy might have a real chance at peace.

* * *

Clarke and Bellamy hung back in the trees as their younger selves went into the camp. They’d give them a minute to prepare the others for their arrival so no one freaks out too badly. 

She looked over at him and grabbed his hand. “We’ll do this _together_ , okay?” They need to present a united and strong front. They needed the others to believe in them so they would listen. 

He squeezed her hand and a smile quirked his lips up, “Yea. Together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven’t actually written anything in years so… let me know how you like it or how you don’t. 


	2. Chapter 2

It was dark by the time they got back. Clarke rushed in to get the seaweed to Jasper and told Finn to boil some water. Their future selves might be here now but they still had things to take care of first. She knew Bellamy was going to have to deal with the Atom situation and although she tried to distract Octavia when she saw her coming, it was a halfhearted attempt at best. 

She checked on Jasper as she waited for the boiled water and thought about what had happened earlier. It wasn’t just seeing their future selves that had shocked her. It was seeing them so close. Were they together? It certainly looked that way. And the thing she had said about needing to save them. She understood the grounders were a threat but who were the mountain men and what caused a second apocalypse? And cryo-sleep! They were from 132 years into the future! She could feel a headache coming on and focused back on Jasper, mopping the sweat off his forehead.

Finally Finn made it in with a pot of boiled water and she added the seaweed. Octavia came up and sat by Jaspers head to run her fingers through his hair and offer what comfort she could. When the tea was ready Clarke helped Jasper drink some of it and then looked up to Octavia. She debated saying anything for a moment, wondering what she _could_ say. 

Eventually she settled for a simple, “I’m sorry about Atom.”

Octavia was quiet for a moment before she responded, “I guess we’re going to have to get used to people dying down here, aren’t we?” She looked down at Jasper as she stroked his hair, “But not you. You hear me? You’re not allowed to die.”

Clarke hesitated a moment but then spoke up, “Actually, that might not be as big of a problem now.”

Octavia looked up at her in confusion, but it was Monty who asked, “What do you mean?”

Clarke cleared her throat and fidgeted, “While we were out there, after we found Atom, two people showed up.”

“Grounders?” Finn asked as he stopped stirring the tea and sat forward.

Clarke shook her head, “No. It was me and Bellamy. Um, our future selves.” She tried to talk faster. She needed to get it out before they called her crazy. “It was us but older. They came here by accident looking for their Octavia and decided to stay and help us. Apparently a lot of things go wrong and a lot of people die and they want to stop it from happening.” She stops and takes a deep breath, waiting for their response.

“Clarke…” Monty looks concerned for her mental health. Finn is just sitting there with his jaw dropped open. Octavia, however, is grinning with glee. Of course the girl from under the floor would believe anything was possible. 

“ _Really?_ Where are they?” She asked.

Clarke bit her lip, “They’re outside in the forest right now. We didn’t have time to explain to everyone yet and we can’t just bring them in with no warning. I think it might be best to sneak them in for tonight and get everyone together in the morning.”

“I think that’s a good idea, Princess.” Clarke startled as Bellamy climbed the rest of the way up. “You told them everything?” 

She nodded, “Yea. I think Octavia’s the only one who believes me though.” She added with a wry grin.

Bellamy’s lips quirked up in amusement before looking over at his sister. The smile slowly fell as he remembered she was mad at him and upset about Atom. Right. Okay. They had things to deal with anyway. He cleared his throat. “Okay. Camp is pretty quiet right now so I’ll go get them and bring them around back. They can sleep up here tonight and we’ll get everyone together as soon as it’s light.”

“Okay. I’m going to go grab Wells then.” Clarke stood up to make her way out. She had almost forgotten that he was going to be murdered and she felt guilty as hell. Not to mention she had only just realised, before they stumbled across Atom, that he _wasn’t_ the one who turned her father in. She still had to talk to him about that too. She didn’t know how or if he’d ever forgive her for believing it was him.

* * *

Bellamy slipped out of camp and made his way to where they had left their older selves. He walked cautiously and kept his eyes moving, on the lookout for either them or grounders. “Where the fuck are they?” He muttered to himself as he passed by another tree. When he felt something small hit him in the head, he startled and looked up.

There they were, lounging in a fucking tree. Clarke snickered and his older self just grinned at him, “Don’t forget to look up. You’re in Trikru territory. They use the trees to their advantage.” He informed him.

Bellamy grunted in annoyance, “Got it. Now get down here. We’re going to sneak you in the back. You can stay in the drop ship tonight and we’ll explain to the others in the morning. Okay with you?”

Clarke dropped down from the tree, “That’s fine with me.”

* * *

When they made it to the drop ship and up the hatch they heard a gasp and “Shit!” as the others finally saw them. Bellamy snorted in amusement but agreed with the sentiment. 

“Didn’t believe us, did you?” He asked as he made it up through the hatch after them. 

The older Bellamy and Clarke looked around for a moment. He watched as the older Clarke took a shuddering breath and seemed shaken before his older self put a hand on her shoulder and guided her to a spot at the table where the others were all sitting. Bellamy noticed he continued to keep a hand on her too, whether it was on her back or her arm, he kept in contact with her. It was disconcerting. 

_His_ Clarke was already back and sitting next to Wells who looked shell shocked and said, “Alright. So this is real.”

Bellamy sighed as he plopped down in his own spot. “Yea, it’s real. Now,” He looked over to the time travelers, “Tell us what we need to know.”

It was the older Clarke who started, “First, you need to know that you’re in Trikru territory. Like we told Bellamy earlier they use the trees to their advantage so if you have to go out, don’t forget to look up. There are people in the mountain who survived but they are capturing the grounders and using their blood to cure the radiation sickness they get whenever they’re exposed. They haven’t adapted the the current levels of radiation like we have. They’ll drain you too if they catch you so stay away from the mountain.”

The older Bellamy chimed in then, “The grounders have territories. The river that Jasper crossed when he got speared is the boundary for the Mountain Men. If anyone gets too close they release the acid fog. It’s part of their defense system but it’s not the only part so stay away.” They paused and just let that all sink in for a minute. 

It was a lot. First Bellamy lost his sister, then he shot the chancellor and snuck on a ship that he was almost positive would burn up or explode before they even made it to Earth. After all this planet had thrown at them in the last week, dealing with time travel and information overload, no matter how welcome the help was, it was almost too much to handle.

“Bellamy and I will handle the grounders.” The older Clarke spoke up again.

“You guys needs different names. This is going to get too confusing.” Bellamy ran his hand through his hair as he leaned back with a sigh.

“We’ve had these names for over a century, why don’t you use a different name?” His older self smirked at him and yea, that cryo joke was gonna get old. 

Bellamy rolled his eyes and scoffed. “There’s a camp full of kids already use to calling us by our names. You’re the new ones, so _you_ get a name change.”

“How about we just call them Blake and Griffin?” Clarke suggested. He could tell she was annoyed and wanted to get back on track.

The older Clarke wrinkled her nose, “ _I’m_ not calling him Blake. How about I call him Bell and you Bellamy?” She asked looking over at him. 

The easy intimacy of their older selves was still surprising to him but he nodded at her. “Okay, fine. What about you?” Bellamy asked as he raised a brow.

His older self spoke up then as he looked over at her, “Your choice, Princess or Wanheda?”

She rolled her eyes but grumbled out, “Princess.”

Blake smirked and addressed the rest of them, “Alright, so we’ll use those names to refer to each other and the rest of you can use our surnames.”

Bellamy nodded. It would be easier to refer to him as Blake in his head instead of constantly thinking of him as ‘his future self’. Maybe if he imagined he was just another person altogether he wouldn’t have such a headache from thinking about it all.

“Alright, now let’s talk about the Ark.” Blake said as he leaned forward again.

The Ark? This conversation was all over the place and he still didn’t have a satisfactory answer about the grounders. ‘We’ll handle it?’ How?

“Wait. How are you going to handle the grounders?” Octavia asked. 

Blake looked over at her before quickly dragging his eyes back to the table and swallowing. Griffin reached over and dropped a hand to his knee. Bellamy tensed. Something had happened to Octavia or with her. Why else would Blake be so upset or uncomfortable looking at her? 

Griffin answered while Bellamy’s thoughts swirled, “We speak their language, know their politics, people, and culture. I can get a meeting with the commander and negotiate for peace. We did it before but too many had died at that point.” Clarke narrowed her eyes as she watched Griffin. She could tell she was trying hard to not look around. It was in how tense she kept herself. 

“Any other questions before we move on?” Blake asked. When no one said anything he cleared his throat and continued. “Okay. So at this point you’ve got most of the wristbands off already. In about a week, Raven will finish rebuilding a pod and make it down here with a radio.”

“Raven?!” Finn sat up abruptly. “Raven Reyes? She’s coming down here?” 

Blake frowned at him, “Yes. Your girlfriend, Raven.” He looked like he wanted to say more on the subject but bit his tongue. Clarke’s mouth fell open as she looked over at him before quickly snapping her gaze away and trying to compose herself. Blake looked at her knowingly and she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She hasn’t known he has a _girlfriend_ and why the hell was he flirting with her so much if that was the case?

“Moving on.” Blake continued, “The Ark is planning on killing 300 people unless they have confirmation that the ground is survivable.” He’s looking right at Bellamy now. “The first time around the radio was stolen and thrown in a river and we used flares to let them know we were alive but we were too late. Those flares burnt down a grounder village and escalated the war with the grounders.”

“Who stole it?” Clarke asked urgently. “Maybe we can stop them this time.”

Blake smiled, “That won’t be a problem this time.” He sat back and ran a hand through his hair, “I’ll explain later but there are some things we are only going to tell you and… Bellamy.” He hesitated on saying his own name, the oddness of it still fresh.

Griffin shot him a smile and picked it back up, “So that’s all the immediate concerns out of the way. We can help get the camp set up. There’s a bunker not far from here that has blankets and guns. You would have found it after establishing contact with the ark but we can go tomorrow and get them.” She paused for moment and then seemed to jolt, “Oh and run all nuts by us before trying to eat them. We do _not_ need the whole camp high off their asses on jobi nuts again.”

Blake laughed, “Those were the good old days. Jobi nuts and Monty’s Moonshine.” 

Griffin rolled her eyes as she smiled at him. Monty however had jolted at his name. “ _Monty’s_ moonshine?” He asked as he looked between the two.

Griffin’s mouth formed an ‘o’ in surprise as Blake looked sheepish. “Right. I forgot you are still working on communication and haven’t made the still yet.” He rubbed a hand along his thigh for a moment before smiling, “Well, Raven will take care of communications soon enough if you want to get started on that. I think we could all use a drink at this point.”

“Hell yea.” Bellamy said and rubbed a hand down his face. 

“Whatever the hell you want.” Clarke said with a sigh. God, it had been a long day. “Right, Blake?” She arched a sardonic brow at him.

He smirked at her, “That’s right, mini-princess.”

Clarke’s face scrunched up at the nickname and Griffin snorted in amusement, shooting him a fond, if exasperated, look.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, you guys have talked me into writing more of this so here you go.  
> Again, let me know how you like it or don't like it. :)  
> I have tons of ideas but I'm really not a writer so feel free to criticize or offer suggestions.


	3. Chapter 3

“Hey, How you holding up?” Griffin asked as she came over and sat next to Blake. He had found an out of the way corner to curl up in. 

Blake shook his head, “I don’t even know. Seeing them all again… they’re all so young. Octavia…” His throat worked hard to swallow the emotion suddenly choking it. “What about you?” He asked gruffly, still trying to bring himself under control.

She sighed and thunked her head back against the wall. “You know, after I killed him, I kept hallucinating him. I’d see him everywhere I went for a while until I finally accepted it.” She paused and looked over at his surprised face, “It feels kind of like that only more surreal.” They are both quiet for a minute before she adds more softly, “I hallucinated you too in the early days after Praimfaya.”

Blake’s face scrunched slightly in pain but he asked, “Why? You knew I was alive.”

“But you were still gone.” She said quietly before laughing softly, “Don’t worry about it. I hadn’t had water in a while and I missed you. That’s all.” She tried to play it off like it was no big deal.

But it wasn’t Raven she hallucinated, or Monty, or any of the others. It was him. “Clarke…”

“Princess. Gotta get in the habit again, Bell, unless you wanna call me Griffin.” She interrupted him quickly.

He huffed out a laugh, “You’d make a fine griffin. You’re just as fierce and powerful.” He joked, referring to the mythological creature, “But you’ll always be Princess to me.” He did take the hint though and let it drop.  
  
He lifted an arm so she could tuck into him, “Come on, we are gonna have another long day tomorrow so let’s get some rest.” 

She scooted closer and leaned against him, closed her eyes and just breathed him in. “I’m scared, Bell.”

He leaned his head on top of hers and asked “Of what, Princess?”

“What if this isn’t real? What if I’m hallucinating you being here? What if it is real but we make things worse?” She held back the tears suddenly threatening her but he could here them in her voice.

“I’m here, Princess. I’m really here with you, and I promise you we wont make it worse.” He pressed his lips to her hair and squeezed her tighter. He grinned and added “And just imagine the look on Clarke’s face when you tell her you’re friends with Murphy.”

Griffin let out a watery laugh.

* * *

  
The next morning they were standing just behind the parachute that covered the door to the drop ship, listening to their younger selves get everyone’s attention. 

“Alright listen up! We ran into some people yesterday, not grounders, who are going to help us. They are from the future and yes I really believe them. They’re us, Clarke and me.” Blake could imagine the earnest look on Bellamy’s face as he addressed the crowd, willing them to believe in him again. He remembered giving these speeches in the early days, trying so hard to win the crowd back from the princess and desperate for the Ark not to follow them down. God he felt old sometimes.

“They know what happens because they lived it. They can tell us how to survive and how to best defend against the grounders. We need to _all_ listen to them.” Clarke emphasized.

Griffin looked over at him and grinned in amusement. This was the first time their younger selves had talked to everyone _together_ instead of arguing different points. She strode forward to push the parachute aside and walked out. Blake followed and they grasped hands as they walked forward to stand between the other two.

It was a striking image with them lined up as they were and standing next to their younger selves like some kind of before and after image. The crowd was only stunned silent for a moment before chaos broke out. Everyone was asking questions bout what happened and if they survived and how. 

“Quiet!” Blake bellowed. He waited a beat as he glared out at the crowd, “You want to know what happens in the future? I’ll tell you. You all die. In the end, there were only five of us that made it. So you are going to shut the hell up and listen. There is a war coming but Griffin and I can prevent it. You need to finish the wall and _do not_ go wandering, alone or otherwise. You’re kids. These grounders are trained warriors and will kill you before you even know they are there. Do you understand?” He looked around at the assembled kids and watched their stunned and hesitant nods.

Griffin spoke up then to reassure them after his harsh rebuke, “Don’t worry. We’ve been there, done that.” She tried to inject some levity with a quick grin before continuing with a more serious expression, “We know what happens and what needs to happen. We can save you if you listen to us. We wont ask anything from you that you aren’t able to give. It will be hard work at first but this is about survival. _Your_ survival.” 

They all waited a moment for that to sink in before Bellamy spoke up, “To avoid confusion, they are going by Blake and Griffin. If you need me or Clarke you have to use our first names. Now get back to work!”

The crowd started to disperse and they all breathed a sigh of relief. “Back to planning then?” Clarke asked.

“Yea, there’s just a few more people to invite to the party.” Blake said before turning to Griffin. “You grab Murphy and Miller, I’ll get Harper.” She nodded and off they went.

* * *

“Murphy!” Griffin called as she neared him.

He swung around and startled, “Shit!” 

She laughed as he just stared at her for a minute. “Come on, we’re going to be discussing plans in the drop ship and we need you and Miller.”

“Me?” The look on his face was skeptical.

She smirked, “Look, I know you and Clarke don’t see eye to eye right now but, one cockroach to another? You aren’t so bad after seven years.” She gave him a wink and a grin. She might be having a bit too much fun in shocking him. At least she didn’t say after a century like Bell would have, she thought. 

Looking around, she spotted Miller and walked off to get him too, giving Murphy time to come out of his shocked disbelief. 

“Hey, Miller!” She waited till he looked over at her and stepped away from who he was talking to. She waved him over to her. “We’re talking about plans in the drop ship, come on.”

True to form, Miller didn’t even say anything, just nodded and followed along as she started walking back.

* * *

“What’s the point of doing all this work to set up a camp if the Ark is going to come down soon?” Murphy asked. They had already been discussing things for close to an hour, explaining how they needed to set up the camp to prepare for winter and all about the mountain men and where the territories for them and the grounders were so they could be avoided.

“Because they might not. There are other things to consider.” Blake took a deep breath and looked over at Griffin. She nodded slowly. “Okay. This is going to be scary but I want you all to remember that we survived it once and we can do it again, okay?” He looked around at everyone as they all seemed to straighten, tense or lean forward.

Blake continued in a low voice, “There are seven nuclear reactors around the world that have been self sustaining for almost a hundred years now. But they weren’t meant to last longer than that. They are already melting down and in less than a year they will explode and release a wave of radiation that will kill everything in it’s path. Only 4% of the world will be inhabitable after that and it will take five years before we can survive the radiation left behind.” 

He paused for a minute and let Griffin take over. “There are bunkers that we can use to ride it out. There is also a serum that you can take that will protect you against the radiation after the Death Wave is over. There are options and we will survive this.” She took out her pocket knife and made a small slice against her forearm. Black blood welled up at the cut.

“What the hell?” Clarke gasped as she jumped up to grab her arm.

“Night Blood. Some of the grounders have it too. The point, is that it will protect against the radiation as long as we find a place to ride out the Death Wave. There are a few options for that as well.”

“But the Ark is running out of air! That’s why they sent us down here. They wont make it another five years!” Clarke exclaimed, starting to panic.

Griffin grabbed her shoulder and gave her a look, “I know. Bell and I have discussed it. When Raven gets down here with the radio we’ll be able to give them several options. We will tell them everything and let their people run it through every scenario possible to find the best solution, to save the most lives we can.”

“Okay, let’s break. It’s still early enough to make it to the supply depot and back. Everyone grab your packs and some rations and let’s head out.” Blake said as he stood.

“They don’t have rations made up yet, Bell.” Griffin reminded him.

“Right. Just testing you, Princess.” He grinned at her as she rolled her eyes, “Okay, then just grab your packs and stay quiet in the forest. I’ll see what game is out there as we walk.”

“You mean I will.” Griffin replied with a raise of her eyebrow, “You spent 6 years trapped on the Ring while I was down here hunting for me and Madi.”

Blake winced slightly but rolled his eyes, “Rub it in.”

“Who’s Madi?” Clarke asked.

“My daughter.” Griffin smiled back at her but frowned when she saw the horror etched on Clarke's face. When she realised what she was thinking, she quickly backtracked, “No, no, I adopted her. It was after Praimfaya. She’s a night blood like me. She was only 6 when the Death Wave hit and she was all alone for _months_ before I found her.”

Clarke let out a harsh breath and put a hand to her chest. “Shit. Do you guys have to keep doing that?” 

Griffin winced, “Sorry. Wasn’t on purpose this time though. She may not have come from my body but she is…was my daughter.”

“Princess.” Blake grabbed her shoulder, “She’ll be fine. You know she will. And you can get to know her all over again. Maybe avoid the bear trap this time too.” He grinned as she laughed with a ‘Thanks, Bell’ before heading out.

Clarke watched the interaction between them with a furrowed brow before exchanging a look with Bellamy.

* * *

“Bell.” Griffin grabbed his attention as they walked ahead of the others through the forest. He answered with a distracted ‘Yea?’ but she hesitated and he looked over. “Have you thought about what to do about Echo?” She almost didn’t want to bring it up but she had to know where he stood on this. 

His jaw clenched and for a moment he was quiet as they walked. “What can I do? We can’t trust her. Even when Roan was king and our ally, we couldn’t trust her. She’s never going to be the person I knew on the Ring. I want to save her if we can though.” 

“Of course we’ll save her,” She rushed to reassure him. “I’m sorry, Bell. I wasn’t thinking when I suggested we stay. I just wanted to change things, save as many as we could. I forgot about her.”

He shook his head, “No. My relationship isn’t more important than the rest of the world, Princess. And I…” He hung his head not sure if he could admit that he had forgot about her too. Not _her_ per se, just that she wouldn’t be the same, she wouldn’t be his.

They stopped for a minute as Griffin grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. He clung to her for a moment. “I’m so sorry, Bell. I’m so sorry.” 

“Not your fault, Princess. Besides, it’s not like she's dead.” He pulled away and they continued walking, neither one glancing back to see if the others had seen their little moment.

“No, but that doesn’t make loosing her any easier.” She said, thinking about Madi.

“No. It doesn’t.”


	4. Chapter 4

Clarke sucked in a breath as she watched the hug between Griffin and Blake. It was just so odd to see them so intimate with each other and she still didn’t know what they actually _were_ to each other. There had been so many more important things to discuss. 

“Weird, isn’t it?” Bellamy asked from next to her. “Who would’ve thought the ark princess would end up so close to the janitor from factory station?” 

Clarke scoffed. As if stations mattered down here. “You think they’re together?” she asked.

Bellamy glanced at her and smirked, “You thinking about following in their footsteps, Princess?”

Clarke rolled her eyes. “ _She’s_ Princess. You’re going to need to come up with a new nickname. And no, I’m not.” She sped up her pace.

“Oh, I’ll think of something, I’m sure.” He said as he let her escape. He didn’t know if they were together like that, but seeing them interact sure was something. He couldn’t help looking at Clarke and thinking about how they ended up like that. She was smart and determined and confident and beautiful and _way_ too good for him. Girls like _her_ did not end up with guys like _him_.

* * *

It wasn’t long after that they finally made it to the supply depot. Blake directed them on where everything was and they started hauling out blankets, guns, and ammo. 

“You get the extra ammo Marcus found last time?” Griffin asked as she passed Blake on the way back up with an armload of supplies.

“Yea, no worries. We wont run out this time. Hell, we shouldn’t even need it this time.” He answered. 

“Better safe than sorry.” She called back as she went up the stairs.

“Does she ever just relax and stop worrying?” Bellamy asked him with an eye roll. 

Blake laughed and clapped a hand on his shoulder, “She wouldn’t be the princess if she didn’t worry about everyone and everything.”

Bellamy thought about asking now, but they still had things to do before they headed out. He bit his tongue as he looked between Blake and where Griffin had been moments before. Blake, though, must have caught the look and ran a hand through his hair, looking off to the side. “Later. We’ll talk on the walk back.” Bellamy nodded and continued on.

* * *

“So. Are you fucking her?” Bellamy asked on the walk back.

“Jesus.” Blake huffed out a laugh. “No. We aren’t like that.” He paused for a minute and tried to find the words. “She’s my best friend. When we came out here the first time, some hallucinogenic nuts, jobi nuts, ended up being spread through camp. I was in a bad way, kept seeing Jaha and the 300 people the Ark floated.”

“Wait, the Ark _actually_ floated 300 people?” Bellamy interrupted him.

Bellamy sighed. “I didn’t know about the oxygen problem. When Raven came down with her radio, I snuck out of camp and grabbed it. Tossed it in a river. Princess told me off good that time. I helped them get the radio back but it’d take too long to fix it. We built rocket flares, hoping the Ark would see them in time but they didn’t. They were running out of time and floated 300 people to save oxygen before we got that radio back up and running. It was my fault. That’s why I saw them with the jobi nuts.”

Bellamy nodded. He had figured that the person who stole the radio was him. As soon as they told everyone about it he knew that’s what he would have done. Not to mention the look Blake gave him.

“Then Dax was sent out here by Shumway to kill me so I wouldn’t talk. Princess saved me. First by knocking Dax off me long enough to shoot him, and then- She forgave me. She told me I wasn’t a monster and she forgave me. Just blanket forgiveness, didn’t ask for anything in return.” Blake looked at him finally and must have seen the shock on his face, “That’s what we do for each other. We forgive each other. Unconditional support. We’re family.”

“No, Octavia’s family.” Bellamy countered. There was no way he was putting her in the same category as O.

Blake smiled sadly, “Yea, she is. But so is Griffin.” He paused and swallowed hard, “I know you can’t imagine it now, but there even came a time I had to choose between them. I chose Griffin. Octavia… She had been through a lot and she wasn’t the same anymore. She had lost her way. She ruled as Blodreina in that bunker for six years and it destroyed her humanity.” Blake swallowed hard and Bellamy could see how haunted he looked, “She was going to kill her and start a pointless war that would cause so many needless deaths, so I poisoned her before she could.”

“What?” Bellamy didn’t even have enough breath to scream it. It came out quiet. He felt like he’d been punched in the gut.

“It was with the first batch of Monty’s algae. Shit had Murphy in a coma for a week so I was pretty sure it wouldn’t kill her, but I had hoped it would give us enough time to stage a coup. It didn’t and she almost killed me but…” He shrugged, “It worked out in the end. Kinda. She’s gotten better at least and-” He paused, swallowing hard, “she’s not my responsibility anymore.”

* * *

Ahead of them Clarke wasn’t fairing much better. “What?” She breathed out.

“I love him. I’ve loved him for so long I don’t even know when it started. He became my co-leader, my friend, my confident, my partner, my _best_ friend. He was there for me through it all.” She looked over at Clarke and smiled at her. “He’s loyal and protective and kind and he would do _anything_ for our people. He really is the best of us.”

“So why aren’t you together?” Clarke asked. 

Griffin sighed heavily, “Timing. There was never any time with the war and we were separated a lot and ended up with different people. By the time we _had_ time, I didn’t want to risk what we had. I was scared. And then Praimfaya came and I wasn’t sure we would make it. We did of course, but we were separated again. For six years this time. And when he came back down he was with Echo.” 

“Echo’s not here now.” Clarke pointed out as she glanced at her. “I know he’ll need time to get over that and everything but… are you ever going to tell him?”

“I don’t know. I only told _you_ because you’re me” Griffin laughed. “It felt good to tell _someone_. But again, I don’t want to ruin what we have. He doesn’t see me that way.” She shook her head with a sigh.

Clarke wasn’t sure about that but she’d keep an eye on them and see how this played out. If there was anything she could do to help the situation she would. Clarke could tell she was heartbroken and haunted by things she hadn’t told her about yet. But this was _her_ … Her future self, and she didn’t want her to suffer. 

Griffin turned to her with a smile, “But you won’t have those problems. I know things wont happen the same way and you wont have the same bonding moments but… I know you and I know him. You’ll fall for him in time, when he opens up and shows you his true nature. Promise me that when you do, you’ll tell him. Don’t hold back and don’t let anything come between you. Okay?”

Clarke blushed and stammered for a moment, “I wont- He’s such a- How could I-”

Griffin laughed, “You will. Just promise me?”

Clarke took a deep breath and tried to force the blush away. “Okay, I promise. But I’m not falling for Bellamy.” She rolled her eyes. Yea Bellamy was gorgeous but he was also an ass and a player. There was no way she was falling for him. She could see how her older self _did_ fall for him, but she just couldn’t reconcile the Bellamy of now with the one from the future.

* * *

It was dark by the time they made it back. Clarke and Bellamy had the group distribute the blankets and got Miller to lock the guns and ammo up in the drop ship. They dragged in the deer Griffin took down and Griffin and Blake taught some kids the best way to skin and prep it for cooking. Bellamy took the time to pull Charlotte aside for a chat while the others were busy. After everything was taken care of and the food was eaten, Bellamy pulled the two time travelers aside.

“I had someone set up a tent for you while we were gone. It’s only one, but something tells me that wont be a problem for you guys.” Bellamy is smirking at them.

Blake’s lips quirk up “It wont.” He agrees and then shakes his head, “But not for the reason you’re implying.”

Bellamy snorts. He knew they weren’t together but he was also pretty sure Blake wanted them to be. 

Griffin looks between them for a minute with her brow furrowed in confusion before it suddenly clicks in place and her face flushes red, “Why does everyone always think that?”

“Seriously?” Bellamy chuckles but shakes his head.

“Because they don’t understand.” Blake looks back at Bellamy and firmly says, “We’re family.” The ‘Drop it.’ is left unsaid but implied.

Bellamy snorts “I don’t look at O’ like you look at her.” He juts his chin at Griffin and raises a brow

Griffin can feel her eyebrows raise in surprise but shakes her head, “It’s not like that. He’s with-” She stops herself with a wince and sucks in a breath “We aren’t together like that.”

Bellamy just looks back at Blake and stares him down. “Yea, okay. Sure.” He turns to lead them to the tent and the two follow, one irritated and one uncomfortable.

* * *

He found Clarke at the drop ship and pulled her to a more secluded area. “So, what did you two talk about on the walk back?” He’s surprised to find her blushing.

“Um… mostly she talked about Blake, and she told me a bit about what it was like after Praimfaya.” She’s too uncomfortable to look him in the eye as she says it. He can guess what was said about Blake in that conversation and smirks at the thought.

“Well, I found out from Blake that they aren’t together but from the way he talks about her…” Bellamy shakes his head, “Damn. He went against O for her.” He runs a hand through his hair in agitation. “I can’t even _imagine_ doing that for anyone.”

“What do you mean he went against Octavia?” Clarke asked with puckered brows. She knows how much his sister means to him and has seen how protective he is of her so she isn’t the least bit offended by his disbelief. 

Bellamy explains everything Blake told him and watches her jaw drop. “He must be in love with her. Whether he admits it or not, and I seriously think he’s in denial for some reason.”

“He was with someone named Echo when they came here. Griffin told me they were separated after Praimfaya and he ended up on the Ring with the others while she was stuck down here. Apparently he got with Echo during that time.” Clarke told him.

Bellamy shook his head, “He may have hooked up with Echo but only because he couldn’t be with Griffin. If she had made it up there with him they would have been together. I'm telling you, these two are fucking star-crossed, a modern day Romeo and Juliet.”

Clarke let out a startled laugh. “Yea, they are.” She looks over at Bellamy and can see a bit past the front he usually puts up. She can kind of see how he turned into Blake at this moment.

Bellamy looks over at her and smiles at the thoughtful look on her face. “Don’t think about it too hard Duchess, you’ll hurt your brain.”

“Duchess?” She startles at the new nickname.

“Next in line after princess. Told you I’d think of something.” He grins at her and she shakes her head with a laugh.

“You’re impossible.” She shoves his shoulder and walks off to her tent. He smiles at her retreating back. Yea, he can kind of understand how Blake fell for her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things will start happening a bit faster now that the intro stuff is out of the way, just fyi  
> Let me know what you think so far ;)


	5. Chapter 5

The tent is about the size of Bellamy’s so there is plenty of room for the both of them. There’s not much in it yet but she figured she can scrounge a few things together later. Thankfully there were two pallets laid out despite Bellamy’s teasing. Griffin thought she would have rather slept on the ground than deal with Blake’s further irritation at people’s assumptions.

She set her pack at the foot of one bed and tossed one of the blankets she saved for them to Blake. She was uncomfortable and felt rather exposed after Bellamy’s comments so she tried to keep busy, spreading out her own blanket and sitting down to untie her boots. 

“Do you remember anything significant happening before Raven got here?” Blake asked suddenly.

She startled, “Um, nothing we haven’t already taken care of. Bellamy told me he talked to Charlotte earlier and Wells knows to be careful of her and the others now. I don’t think there were any grounder attacks this early though. None directly anyway. Diggs, Mbege, and Roma only died because you guys went out for Octavia but that wont happen this time.” Blake nodded and looked thoughtful so she asked, “Why?”

He looked distracted as he just ‘Hmm?’ed at her before he startled out of his thoughts and explained. “Oh I was just thinking on when it’d be best to make contact with the grounders. If nothing serious happens before Raven gets here then I think we need to talk to the Ark first and let them know everything that’s going to happen. I’d hate for something to go wrong and us end up dead before we get a chance to tell them.” 

Griffin frowned, “I think you should stay here while _I_ go talk to the grounders anyway. Just in case something _does_ happen.” 

“No.” The refusal is quick and harsh. He frowned at her, “Just no, Clarke. How can you even ask me that?”

She flinched. She knew he only called her that because of how mad he was. “I just think it’d be better if you were here and could help them in case something happened to me, that’s all.”

He groaned in frustration and ran a hand through his hair, “I get that, okay? I do. But I can’t let you leave me again, Princess. I’ve lost you so many times, it would kill me to stay behind and not know what was happening or be there to help you. Please don’t ask me to do that.” 

“Okay.” She managed to get past the lump in her throat. “I’m sorry.” She looked away as her eyes became shiny with tears that she refused to let fall right now.

“We’ll talk to the Ark and then we’ll go together. They’ll have the information they need.” He didn’t look at her as he sat down and aggressively started pulling his own boots off. 

Griffin nodded, “Alright. Night Bell.” She curled up under her blanket and heard his murmured ‘Goodnight, Princess’ in return.

* * *

The next few days were both busy and awkward. They tried to talk to Monty about the still but he was shifty and weird with them. They tried to talk to Murphy but he mostly just kept asking questions about the future. Jasper was still healing and Octavia ended up not being much better than Murphy at actual conversation. Though for her it was at least about the novelty and not survival. Griffin couldn’t bring herself to talk to Wells either. She didn’t know what to say to him. It was frustrating.

There was too much of a difference in age, experience, and naivete for them to even _try_ with the kids they didn’t know well or remember. Also, that’s ignoring the whole reason of why they weren’t known or remembered, which made things awkward. Either way, Blake and Griffin spent most of their time either alone, with each other, or their younger selves. 

Griffin sighed as she sat down and leaned back against the drop ship. She closed her eyes and drew her knees up to rest her arms on. When a shadow fell over her later she didn’t even open her eyes as she asked “What do you want Bellamy?”

He laughed and asked, “How did you know it was me?”

Her lips quirked in response, “Bell would have sat next to me, Clarke would have gotten to the point, and no one else approaches us. That left you, and you’ve always been good at hovering.” She joked. 

“I’m good at a lot of other things too.” His voice was suggestive and he reached out a hand to help her up.

She took it before she even registered what he had really said. He pulled her up a little harder than needed and she ended up stumbling into him, hand landing on his chest as his came around her waist to steady her.

Her face flamed and her mouth dropped, “What?” She breathed out in shock.

He gave her a smirk and dipped his head down so their cheeks brushed and he was speaking in her ear, “I know you’re in love with him, that you want him. How about trying out the younger model?”

Griffin sucked in a sharp breath and fought off a tremble. She closed her eyes for a moment and felt him pull back slightly to look at her. She let out a slightly incredulous laugh at the situation and shook her head, “He’s not in love with me and neither are you. I’m not going to settle for just one night Bellamy.”

He smiled at her softly and pushed some hair out of her face, “Just thought I’d offer.”

She was just starting to smile back at him, when Blake came around the drop ship and startled at the sight of them. “Shit.” She cursed.

Bellamy laughed and pecked her on the cheek, “Don’t worry about it. He could use a wake up call anyway.” He finally released her and sauntered off smirking at Blake as he went.

Blake’s face darkened and he walked over to her. “What the hell was that about?” 

“Nothing. It was nothing.” Griffin shook her head and cursed the interruption which gave her no time to get her head on straight.

“Remember who you’re talking to, Princess. It wasn’t that long ago, that was me.” His voice had lowered as he stepped closer into her space.

She huffed in irritation and glared at him, “Then you already know exactly what that was. Why are you asking?”

The incredulous look on his face would have made her laugh in another situation. “Because I’m still trying to wrap my head around what I just saw!”

Griffin flinched. She wasn’t sure if she should be offended by that or not. “He propositioned me.” She just said instead.

“And? Are you going to sleep with him?” Blake’s brows were drawn down and she couldn’t look at him long enough to figure out what he was feeling right now.

“Tempting, but no. He’s a bit too young for me and he doesn’t even know me.” Griffin tried to brush it off as she looked down and off to the side.

“Tempting?” Blake asked in surprise. Her argument was weak at best. They just spent a lot of time telling him and Clarke everything about themselves and he was only a year younger. He would have thought she’d say no because it’s him.

Her gaze shot back up to him and then narrowed, “Don’t act so surprised Bell, you’re not stupid.”

His thoughts raced as he started to put the pieces together. “Princess, I-” He paused, not really knowing what to say right now.

She sighed, “Don’t force yourself, Bell.” Now would be a good time to get the hell out of here and figure out what the hell just happened. She walked away as quickly as she could without it looking like she was running.

* * *

Blake stared at her retreating back for a minute before turning to go find Bellamy. 

“Why the hell are you propositioning Griffin?” He asked when he saw him lifting up some wood to carry.

Bellamy sighed and put the stack back down before facing him. “Because she’s in love with you but that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere so I thought I’d give her a night to remember.” He shrugged, “She told me she wouldn’t settle for just one night though, so don’t worry.”

Blake reared back in surprise, “She- what?”

Bellamy looked at him in irritation. “I don’t get it, man. I know we never expected to meet anyone because of O but that’s not a problem now. And I’ve seen the way you are together. You can bet your ass that if I can get Clarke to love me half as much as Griffin loves you, I’m not passing that up or letting her go.” He shook his head with his hands on his hips before turning back to the pile of wood. When he picked them up he came face to startled face with Clarke.

“Uh…We need to send out a hunting party.” She looked between the startled Bellamy to Blake, who just appeared lost.

“You got it, Duchess. Just let me get this to the guys first.” Bellamy smiled as she flushed before nodding and walking away. He glanced back at Blake and said, “Get your shit together, okay?”

Blake didn’t bother responding, he just walked off. 

* * *

Griffin grabbed some jerky and berries and sat on a log near the fire to eat. It had been a stressful day and she wasn’t sure what would be waiting for her with Blake when she made it back to her tent. She was slightly startled when Wells came to sit next to her with his own food.

“Are you avoiding me?” He asked before he popped a berry in his mouth.

She swallowed hard and looked at him, “I just don’t know what to say. You died and it’s been so long and I’m not the same person anymore and you still have Clarke” She could feel the tears threatening to choke her as it all tumbled out of her. 

Wells smiled sadly at her and bumped his shoulder to hers, “You’re still Clarke. I can be here for both of you, you know. And I can learn who you are now.” He chuckled before adding, “It’ll be like two best friends for the price of one.”

Griffin let out a startled laugh that was half sob and Wells pulled her into a hug. “God, I missed you.”

* * *

By the time night fell Blake had worked himself up into a ball of irritation. He was pacing the small area afforded by their tent when Griffin finally walked in looking tired.

She eyed him warily but didn’t say anything. Fine. He’d start the conversation then. “You were dead Clarke. For six years I thought you were dead and it hurt like _hell_ but I moved on.”

“I know.” She said lowly as she sat down on her bed.

“I was with Echo. Hell, I just lost her five days ago!” He ran a hand through his hair. He still hadn’t really dealt with that. It was hard to when he knew she was still alive. It had felt like relationship limbo until he had that conversation with Griffin about it but he still wasn’t ready to just move on.

“Bell, I know. I’m not asking for anything.” She said as she looked up at him in concern. She shouldn’t have said anything earlier but she had just been so thrown by Bellamy’s offer at the time, she hadn’t filtered her words like she normally would.

“Well you might not be, but Bellamy sure is!” He turned to her and she could see how agitated he was about this.

She stood and walked over to him. “Bell, he doesn’t understand. I think he just wants to see you happy with someone because he never thought he’d have that. And _you_ haven't realised that yet because you’re still in pain from loosing Echo. It’s okay.” She reassured him but didn’t think he’d welcome her touch at this point given the conversation. “I swear, I’m not asking for anything, you know I wouldn’t put you in that position. I never have.” She looked down and bit the inside of her cheek. 

Blake sighed and pulled her into a hug, “I know, I’m sorry. I’m just stressed out and aggravated.”

Griffin laughed lightly as she hugged him back, “Well you were very stressful and aggravating seven years ago. Now you know how it feels.” He let out a startled laugh and she smiled in satisfaction, finally relaxing.

* * *

It was the next night, almost morning time, when Raven finally came down in her pod. They had people watching for her and had everything ready to go at first sight. They had even built a travois that day to help carry her back but they needed to be quick. Griffin remembered the storm they had to deal with last time so it would be a busy day getting everything strapped down or put away in the drop ship. 

Blake and Clarke stayed behind to get everyone organized at first light while Griffin, Finn, and Bellamy headed for Raven’s pod. Bellamy needed to help carry her and Finn obviously wanted to see Raven as soon as he could. That little fact made Griffin heave a huge sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure if they had gotten back early enough to prevent that awkward love triangle or not. Obviously they hadn’t slept together yet but she really didn’t want to deal with the puppy dog eyes and indecision either.  
  
Griffin got her cleaned up and wrapped her head while the boys took turns dragging her back to camp. They got back right after dawn and she smiled to see Blake and Clarke working together just as well as her and Blake. The rain was already starting when Raven finally woke up with a groan. She startled when she opened her eyes and looked around until her eyes finally landed on Finn who was grinning at her. 

“Finn!” She lurched forward and wrapped her arms around him as he laughed and hugged her back. “I made it?” She looked around in wonder for a moment before turning back to him.

“Yea, Rae. You made it.” Finn told her softly.

They became wrapped up in each other and Bellamy rolled his eyes and nodded his head at the camp, “I’m gonna go help the others.” He told her before taking off. She just nodded at him and looked back to where she had last seen Clarke. They needed to get this conversation over with as soon as possible. They still had 300 lives to save.

* * *

“Raven Reyes to Ark station. This is Raven Reyes calling Ark station, do you copy?” 

Raven had taken the news of time travelers surprisingly well. There was a little disbelief, a demand for proof which had been easy enough, and then she had just accepted it. They had only given her a very brief overview before handing over the radio and telling her to get to work. Knowing what was at stake snapped her out of the wonder of being on the ground and meeting time travelers and it didn’t take her long to set it up. The worst of the storm was still a ways off so it shouldn’t take long to get through.

“This is Raven Reyes transmitting from the ground. The hundred are alive. Do you read me?”

“We read you Raven, one second, I’m trying to boost your signal.”

Raven leaned back and gave a heavy sigh of relief before she laughed. “It’s Sinclair. We did it.”

Clarke smiled at her, “ _You_ did it, Raven.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Younger Bellamy propositioning Older Clarke and Older Bellamy catching them amused me to no end. It still makes me cackle. So, sorry, but I had to add that in there as soon as it popped in my head.


	6. Chapter 6

There was a lot of confusion on the Ark, as Griffin had expected, but eventually they got Abby out of lock up and had her and part of the council on the radio. The image was grainy and cut out sometimes but at least it was there. It would certainly make it easier to explain.

“Yes, the ground is survivable but there’s more you need to know. There are two people here that are from the future with vital information.” Clarke said to her mom. She watched as her mouth gaped for a moment before looking over at Griffin and gestured her forward.

“Hi Mom.” Griffin waved from next to Clarke. Abby raised a hand to her mouth. “So Bellamy and I are from about seven years in the future. Oh, and Jaha, he was told to shoot you and given the gun by Shumway. He only did it to get on the ship to protect his sister. I want him pardoned of his crimes just like the rest of them. Shumway wasn’t working alone.” She added significantly.

The image tilted as Abby wordlessly handed the tablet to Jaha. He appeared to think it over for a moment before leaning forward and to address them again, “Bellamy Blake, you are pardoned of your crimes. Now, who is Shumway taking orders from?”

“Diana Sydney. If I remember correctly you just put her on the council recently, right? She knows about the exodus project and she’s going to take it over, get her people on board and launch without the rest of you. The ship wasn’t decoupled when they launched and it crippled the Ark. You ended up bringing the whole Ark to the ground and only Alpha, Mecha and Farm station survived. Factory exploded upon impact with a cliff, and the others burned upon re-entry.” She gave him a moment to process this before she said, “I know this is a lot but that’s not all. I have so much to tell you.”

Jaha took a deep breath and looked at someone beyond the screen, giving them a nod. “Okay. Tell me more.”

* * *

Clarke sat to the side as she listened just as intensely as Jaha and the others to what Griffin was saying. 

“So the ground won’t be survivable.” The devastated, empty tone to her mothers voice made her heart hurt. Abby sat back in her chair, stunned.

“It is right now but the death wave will hit at the end of March. Then it will be five years before it’s safe.” Griffin explained.

“We wont last five years up here!” Marcus exclaimed from somewhere off screen.

“I know, we might have a solution for that. Remember, me and Bell? We’ve done this all before. Becca developed a night blood serum to protect against the radiation caused by the Flame.”

“The flame?”

Griffin waved it off, irritated with herself for forgetting they wouldn’t know what she was talking about, “It’s a device, not important right now. Anyway. We can go to her lab and send you the files. It has to be created in zero-g so you have to make it in space. Send it down with the people on the Exodus and once we ride out the death wave they’ll just need to recover from the first bout of radiation sickness before their bodies get use to processing it. I barely made it inside before it hit and I survived.”

“But how many others will. How sick were you?” Abby asked as she went into doctor mode.

Griffin sucked in a sharp breath and Clarke knew she was going to downplay it. “Um. I was mostly fine after about a month, just a few burns and boils left.”

“A month! Clarke!”

“Griffin.” She corrected. “And I was on my own with no help. It’ll be different for the others. Also, like I said, I barely made it back in time and was really close to the death wave. The others shouldn’t get as badly burned as I was and should recover faster.” 

“Why were you so close to it?” Abby was getting upset and they needed to get her back on track.

“That’s really not important or relevant right now.” Clarke interjected. Griffin had told her this story already. “What is important is that it’s a viable option. There are also people in Mount Weather.” She nodded back to Griffin and let her take it back over.

Griffin smiled at her in thanks, “That right. They wont be able to host us long term but we wouldn’t have to stay for long. It should hold you long enough so you can stagger the exposure to radiation so you aren’t all sick at once. Then you can move outside and to Shallow Valley.”

The screen passed back to Jaha as he asked, “How many do you think they can hold temporarily. How many people are there right now?”

“There are 384 people there right now.” Griffin answered in a flat voice. “They have enough room and supplies for another 250 short term but it’ll be tight.” 

Jaha paused and narrowed his eyes at her, “That’s a very specific number. How did you get this information exactly?”

“The mountain men take grounders and drain them of blood. They use it to cure radiation sickness since their people haven’t adapted to it the way we have. They’ll die if they come above ground without their suits on. They had captured my people after a battle with the grounders and drilled holes into them for bone marrow. They used it to cure their people permanently so they could live above the ground, but they were killing my people to do it. Bellamy snuck in and disabled their defense systems and I led a grounder army to their doors but their commander betrayed me to save her own people. When I finally got in, there weren’t any options left. I irradiated the entire mountain and killed them all.” 

There was absolute silence for a moment as Blake stepped forward. “ _We_ irradiated the mountain. We pulled the lever _together_ , Princess. And we did it to save our people.”

Jaha nodded slowly, “You did what you had to do for your people. I’m proud of you Griffin. But what makes you think we can live in peace with them this time? Why not kill them all again and have more room for our people?”

Clarke was shocked at that last question and looked over to gauge Bellamy’s reaction. His brows were furrowed and he looked at the floor as his jaw ticked.

Griffin however took it in stride, “Because this time we are going to do _better_. There’s no reason to kill them. We can offer them the night blood serum in exchange for temporary housing. Not all of them were bad people. We can work _with_ them this time. Dante, President Wallace that is, is very reasonable. It was his son Cage who started the drilling after he succeeded with the coup.”

“And what about after, when only 4% of the world is survivable? There wont be enough resources for all of us.” Jaha countered.

Blake scoffed, “There will be plenty for all of us. The valley will be big enough and we can start farms. We can start collecting seeds and plants now. We may even be able to talk to the commander about setting up the farms before the death wave. It skipped right over the valley before so the crops should be fine.”

Griffin picked it back up “And our Monty had discovered an algae that revitalized the dead crops and made the ground arable again. The first time around the crops in the Polis bunker started to die and people were starving. In three days Monty was able to get them to start blossoming again with his algae. Get your people in go-sci to look into it and try to recreate it.”

Jaha nodded, “Okay, we’ll look into that. Now what about this Polis bunker?”

* * *

Clarke sighed heavily as she rubbed her temples. It had taken hours for Griffin and Blake to explain everything and argue back and forth with Jaha. They were adamant however that the Polis bunker be for the grounders and insisted they would never be able to sneak in anyway since it was in the heart of the capital. She had known that Jaha could be ruthless, he had floated her father after all, was planning on killing 300 people on the Ark to save oxygen, but…

“You doing okay?” She looked up to see Bellamy standing next to her. He was looking around, watching everyone finish getting things ready for the storm. 

“Yea… Yea, it’s just- How could he just casually suggest killing off all those people?” Clarke huffed out a sigh, “What right do we have to survive if we have to kill everyone else to do it?”

“Do you think they wouldn’t consider the same thing if our positions were reversed?” He looked at her and Clarke went to respond to that but he held up a hand, “No. Hear me out. They killed our people the first time around and it wasn’t even about survival then. They just wanted to get out of the bunker. I’m not saying we should kill them, Clarke. I’m just trying to explain that who we are, and who we need to be to survive are two different things. If it was between us or them, you and I both know, we’d choose us.” He gave her a significant look and continued more softly, “But Blake and Griffin are making sure it won’t come to that this time so don’t worry, okay?” He tilted his head slightly and she smiled at him which prompted a smile from him as well.

“You and your speeches.” He laughed at her and she bumped her shoulder against his, “Thanks, Bellamy.”

“Anytime, Duchess.” He gave her a smile as he left to help the others and she couldn’t help watching him. 

She remembered what he had said to Blake yesterday when she had gone to tell him to get a hunting party set up. She still didn’t know what to think about that but she hadn’t actually had much time _to_ think about it. Honestly though, if he kept this up she didn’t think it’d be too hard for him to get her to fall for him. He was so different now from their first days on the ground and she had found out that was mostly down to him trying to keep the Ark from coming down so he could protect his sister. 

She let out a sigh and decided to shelve the thought for now and went off to help set things up in the drop ship.

* * *

The storm was intense. They had to put off further talks with the Ark in order to finish preparing for it. Everyone was inside the drop ship and it was crowded but there was so much stuff also piled in, that they at least had some semblance of privacy. Clarke had just finished checking on some of the sick kids when she found Bellamy seated behind one such pile. 

“Hey.” She said as she took a seat next to him.

“Hey. You get tired of being a mother hen or something?” He asked with a smirk.

“Oh, ha ha. I saw you earlier comforting some of the younger girls. Don’t act like I’m the only one.” She nudged his knee and he laughed.

“Nah, I just didn’t want to hear them screaming later when it gets worse. Purely selfish I assure you.” He smirked and tried to play it off but she could see a faint blush across his cheeks.

She looked at him for a moment and then asked, “Is that how you’re going to get me to fall in love with you?” 

His eyes were wide as his head snapped around to look at her. She blushed but held eye contact. “Heard that then, did ya?” He cleared his throat and then rubbed the back of his neck, “Look, Clarke-”

“Were you just saying that to goad Blake?” She asked before he could stutter his way through some kind of answer. 

He swallowed and looked away, “No.” He let out a sigh and leaned his head back about the pile, “No. I see the way they are. I’ve heard what they’ve done for each other even if they weren’t in a relationship at the time. That kind of love and devotion…I want that. I may not know the details of everything or understand the nuances but, I know we have that potential.” He looked over at her and saw the thoughtful look on her face.

“Yea.” She agreed and looked up at him and smiled. “You wanna see where this goes then?”

His eyebrows raised, “Together?” He asked.

“Together.” She held out her hand to him and he took it, interlacing their fingers. 

He raised their hands up and kissed the back of hers, keeping his eyes on her so he could watch that cute blush suffuse her cheeks. “That sounds perfect.”

* * *

Clarke was cleaning up debris around the camp and trying not to watch Bellamy do the same. Her eyes kept straying and she berated herself for it every time but a smile would still find it’s way onto her face when she looked at him. Sometimes she caught him watching her too and a blush would rise up on her cheeks. He’d grin at her and get back to work looking more smug than before. She had to admit, she felt a little ridiculous but it was nice to have a spot of happiness in the middle of all the craziness. 

The next time she looked up she saw Bree had wandered over to him. She had a hand on his arm and was leaning towards him when he shook his head and stepped back from her. He smiled and said something she couldn’t hear and Bree looked surprised before giving him a quick smile and walking away. Clarke didn’t know what to think about that. 

He looked over at her and hesitated a second before walking over. “She wanted a hook up later and I told her no, that I was with someone more seriously now.” He raised a hand and rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous gesture, “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to tell anyone though.”

Clarke smiled at him and set down her pile of branches. When she stood back up she grabbed his shirt and pulled him forward, reaching up with her other hand to cup his jaw and bring him down for a kiss. 

He was surprised at first but quickly brought his arms around her, one cupping the back of her head and the other wrapped around her waist to bring her closer. He licked at her bottom lip and she opened for him, letting him take control of the kiss.

Her head went fuzzy and the rest of the world dropped away. She could have stood there for minutes or hours kissing him. There was a whoop from nearby and suddenly wolf whistles were piercing the air and they pulled apart. Bellamy was grinning ear to ear and Clarke blushed beat red and hid her equally large grin in his chest.

Laughing he pulled her in for a final peck and said, “Guess that answers that question. Come on, Let’s finish getting this place cleaned up, Duchess.” 

Clarke grinned, kissed him one more time and pushed him and his smug grin back towards the mess he was cleaning up before. She picked up her own pile and got back to work. When she looked up she saw Griffin watching wistfully.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I debated back and forth about writing the actual Trigedasleng or writing it in English and just saying they’re speaking Trig. I choose to just write it in bold, italicized English because translations are a nightmare for both writer and reader and there will be a lot of Trig later. I might do a few phrases that are more common in the series in Trig but I’ll keep translations minimal and at the top if I do. For example:
> 
> Hod op: Wait/Stop  
> Wanheda: Commander of Death

Blake wasn’t sure what he felt as he watched Clarke and Bellamy. Maybe a little wistful, maybe a little frustrated. He absolutely refused to look over at Griffin though. He didn’t want to see her reaction, knowing what he now knew. He grunted as he hauled up a larger branch that had fallen on one of the tents more aggressively than needed. Once that was taken care of he decided to take a break and snuck out for a bit. The grounders probably had their own shit to deal with anyway. He’d grab a gun and see what game was out right now.

* * *

A little after mid day they had gotten most of the camp cleaned up and were clearing out the drop ship. Raven had set the radio up in a tent so they wouldn’t be in anyones way and could have a bit of privacy. It took a while but Blake eventually found Griffin there with Clarke and Bellamy. 

“We’re going to need workers down here. Farmers, mechanics, engineers, guards. Don't send down a bunch of politicians and council members who aren’t going to be the least bit prepared for the hard work of living down here.” Griffin caught sight of him and narrowed her eyes. “Keep looking for other bunkers or anywhere underground to ride this out.” She took off her headset and walked out, dragging Blake with her.

“Where were you?” She asked him, agitated.

“Went for a walk, killed a deer, it’s fine. How’re talks with the Ark going?” Blake tried to brush it off and redirect the conversation. 

Griffin frowned at him. “If you need some time out of here, I get it, but don’t run off without at least telling _someone_.” She waited for his nod and then relaxed a bit. “Jaha is being an idiot but they are looking for other bunkers. He brought up the Second Dawn cult again but I told him that was the Polis bunker. There was a research facility further north that he thinks might be worth checking out but it's definitely in Azgeda territory.”

He nodded and ran a hand through his hair. “That’ll have to wait till after we talk with the grounders. Preferably after we get the rovers depending on how far north.” The rovers were scavenged from Mount Weather though so he wasn’t sure how likely that would be. 

“We should be able to borrow some horses at least.” She added hopefully. 

Blake nodded thoughtfully. “We should go find Lincoln soon. We need to talk to Anya and get a meeting with Lexa.”

Griffin nodded slowly, “Okay. You want to go today or wait for morning?” 

“Might as well get it over with right?” Honestly, this was not something he was looking forward to. Lincoln would be easy enough to handle, but Anya could go either way. 

“Do you think we’ll need Bell-”

“No.” He cut her off, “Those two can stay here and keep the camp running smoothly. Besides, they wouldn’t be much help with this part.” Not to mention he didn’t want to watch them flirt and kiss and be happy together. It was like a slap in the face anytime he saw them. Griffin just sucked in a breath and nodded sharply. Okay, good, they weren’t going to address the elephant in the camp. 

* * *

Avoiding the grounders on the way to Lincoln's cave had been simple enough. They knew this forest pretty well by now. Avoiding the knife he immediate swiped at them as they came around the corner and into the cave was a bit harder.

“Shit! Lincoln, _**Hod op!**_ ” Griffin cursed as she jumped back. It wasn’t far enough and she felt the knife slice across her belly. 

Blake stepped forward and grabbed his arm as it was still outstretched in his attack. He pulled forward and rammed his elbow down on it to make him drop the knife, then twisted around Lincoln so that he had his arm pulled behind his back. Lincoln started to turn to break free but Blake wrestled him down and kept a knee on his back, still holding his arm. 

“Lincoln! _**We are not here to hurt anyone. We just want to talk to you.**_ ” Blake said in Trigedasleng as he tried to get him to stop struggling.

“ _ **How do you know my name? Who are you?**_ ” Lincoln questioned as he stilled.

“ _ **We’ll tell you if you agree to not attack us again.**_ Deal?” Blake asked. He watched him for any sign of deceit but when Lincoln agreed he sighed in relief and let him up. 

“Hey Lincoln? You mind giving me the antidote to the poison on your knife?” Griffin asked as she held a hand over her wound. 

“Shit! How bad is it, Princess? Let me see.” Blake rushed over and tried to get her to lift her hand and her shirt out of the way. 

“I don’t think it’s that deep. But that’s the knife he stabbed Finn with the first time around. It’s the poison I’m worried about right now.” She said as she looked down at the blood running down her stomach and soaking into her pants. 

Blake cursed again as he turned around, “Where’s your med kit?” He asked Lincoln harshly.

Lincoln walked over to a shelf he had carved out of the wall and grabbed a small pouch. He handed it over to Blake and then got some cloth for bandages. When he turned back to hand them over he noticed Blake had already got the right vial out. He frowned in confusion and Griffin smiled at him.

“We’re from about seven years in the future. You helped us out a lot the first time, and now we need your help again.” She said as Blake tried to clean her wound after giving her the antidote. 

It took a lot more explaining on their part but he did eventually believe them. They asked for a meeting with Anya, the goal being to set up a meeting with Lexa. He agreed to talk to her but he made no promises about the result. They decided it would be best to give her a day to think it over and set up a meeting for the day after at the bridge. 

When they finally made it back to camp, Griffin was feeling woozy and Blake took her straight to Clarke. When she saw her she gasped and asked what had happened as she immediately got to work stitching her older self back together. It was an exhausting day. 

* * *

Unfortunately, the next day ended up no better. It was a waiting game at this point and Griffin couldn’t even help around camp to take her mind off of things. 

“Hey, how are you holding up?” Wells asked as he sat next to her on the log. 

Griffin smiled over at him, “I’m good. It’s not the worst wound I’ve ever had. I’ll be fine.”

Wells looked at her for a minute before sighing, “Yea, that’s not what I meant.” He looks over at where Bellamy and Clarke were talking and she gets it.

“It’s-” She took a deep breath and tried to get her thoughts in order. “I don’t really know. On one hand it’s hard to watch because I didn’t get that and maybe I never will but on the other hand I’m glad _she_ gets it; that at least we aren’t doomed in every reality. Mostly it just hurts, like a hole in my chest, like I can’t catch my breath. I’m kind of used to it at this point though.”

“Jesus.” Wells sighed. “If you ever want to talk about it, you know I’m here for you. Don’t forget about me in your old age, okay?”

Griffin cracked a smile at him and he grinned. She shoved at his shoulder and called him a jerk and it felt just as easy as it ever did with him. She’s kind of amazed by that really.

* * *

Blake was taking a break from talking strategy with the others when Clarke approached him. He hadn’t really interacted with her much without someone else there and it was weird for him. She was barely eighteen and he was going on thirty; the age difference between them had never been so stark. 

“Does it make you uncomfortable?” She went straight for a jugular as always.

He frowned at her, “What?”

“My relationship with Bellamy. It looks like it makes you uncomfortable or pisses you off.” She looked vaguely uncomfortable explaining this but of course she’s determined to have this out with him and it made him smile.

“A bit, yea, but that’s not your fault or something you need to worry about.” He tried to reassure her. He’s pretty sure his younger self would find a way to off him and claim it was a grounder if he screwed this up for him. 

“May I ask why?” Now her face was more curious than anything else and he was uncomfortable about how cute he found her. It was in a weird nostalgic way so he tried to just ignore it.

“You may.” He agreed easily but left it at that because it’s still fun to piss her off sometimes.

She frowned at him and then huffed, rolling her eyes. “Why, Blake?”

He chuckled for a moment before sobering as he pieced his answer together. “I haven’t let myself want that with her in a very long time and then Bellamy was pushing for it and I just lost my girlfriend and it’s like it’s being shoved in my face again. It’s frustrating.”

Clarke seemed to think about this for a minute before responding, “Bellamy is sufficiently distracted now so I wouldn’t worry on that front. But I am sorry if it feels like we’re rubbing it in your face. I didn’t think we were that bad with the PDA.” She frowned, probably going over every past occurrence of PDA to see how much or how bad it was and he bumped his shoulder into her to get her to stop.

“You’re not. It’s fine. It’s not about the PDA.”

“You can talk to me you know. I know Griffin has Wells to be impartial and talk about things with, but I haven’t seen you re-connect with anyone here. I promise I wont be offended, even if it is my relationship or older self you want to vent about.” The offer is kind of amazing but he’s come to expect that with her. It’s not something she would have offered as easily the first time around but she hasn’t had as much stress on her this time. 

He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, “It’s just, if I’m going to be with her, I want it to be because we both want that, because we’re on the same page, not because we’re being pushed into it and I have no other options.”

Clarke laughed, “Trust me, no one wants to be with someone who was pushed into it. _She_ isn’t pushing you, is she?” Clarke asked skeptically.

“No. No, it’s not her. I just- I want her to be happy but I know what that means in her mind and I can’t give it to her, yet. Right now I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to. Everything is changed and different but we still have a count down to the end of world to deal with.” Blake rubbed a hand over his face and tried to not be cynical.

“Then focus on that. Just keep being her friend and let her be yours and ignore everything else until you’re ready to deal with it. You don’t have to let everything revolve around this one thing, you know. She knows how you feel, right?” 

“Yea. Thanks, Clarke.” He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. The more things change, he thought, the more they stay the same.

“Anytime.”

* * *

The meeting with Anya was tense and exhausting. Neither Blake nor Griffin knew enough about her to be able to prove their story. They had Lincoln’s testimony and knew the language but Anya claimed they could be spies. 

Griffin had sighed in exasperation. “Look, I know Lexa was your second and I know I can convince _her_. Please just give me that chance.”

“What can you say that would convince her but not me?” Anya had narrowed her eyes, suspicion clear in her gaze.

Griffin shot a sidelong glance at Blake before taking a deep breath, “I’m a night blood. I’ve had the flame and I can prove it to her since she currently has the flame.”

Blake smirked at her. She wasn’t lying but they both knew what the grounders would make of that. He decided to up the stakes, “They called her Wanheda when she destroyed the mountain. If you take us to the commander, we can eliminate that threat again.” Not the way they did before, but that was just semantics.

“Prove it.” Griffin almost rolled her eyes at this demand from Anya. She took a small knife from her boot and made a shallow cut across her forearm. The black blood welled up and Anya stare for a moment before giving a sharp nod. They had a deal.

Clarke and Bellamy would be staying at the camp to keep things under control while Griffin and Blake went with Anya and a small group of her guards to Polis. It would take two days of hard walking to get there.

Blake made sure to pull Lincoln aside before they left though and asked him to watch out for his sister. He had explained their relationship to him previously and how they came together. He knew Lincoln wouldn’t push her for anything because of it but he _would_ look out for her. Blake kind of hoped they got another chance together. It would ease his guilt at Lincolns death and what his sister had become as a result of it. He still had trouble interacting with her and didn’t know how to answer most of her questions. 

* * *

Griffin and Blake were getting some packs put together with rations and a med kit. They knew they’d be sleeping outside but didn’t want to be weighed down by blankets or anything so they agreed to keep it light. It would make it easier for travel and in case they found trouble on the way. 

“So, you gonna be okay seeing Lexa again?” Blake glanced over to gauge Griffin’s expression as he asked. He’d been trying to think of how to phrase the question for a while now. He knew this would be hard on her. It’d be like seeing Gina again and interacting with a version of her that didn’t know him at all. Lexa was so cold and ruthless in the beginning too. Hell, she was like that all the time to him, but he knew she had been different with Griffin.

She barely paused in her packing as she answered, “I’ll be fine. She’s alive now and I’ve had a long time to get over it.” 

He wasn’t sure how much he believed her. Yeah, it was a long time ago, but that didn’t mean this wouldn’t hurt her. At the very least, it seemed like it’d be awkward as hell. Blake sighed as he let it go and finished with his own pack. At least he didn’t have to worry about running into Echo any time soon. 

* * *

The walk was brutal. More so because of the awkward silences than anything else. Anya had brought three guards with her, one female and two male. None of them were very communicative. Blake and Griffin had exhausted talks of strategy the past few days and things were a bit awkward between them at the moment. It felt weird to be too casual in front of the others and they didn’t want to give too much away just yet. They had to be careful how much trust they put in the grounders.

When night fell it was with weariness that they finally stopped. Blake walked off to go relieve himself after he left his pack with Griffin by the tree they were claiming for the night. He wasn’t expecting anyone to follow him. 

When Anya did, he didn’t think he minded all that much. It was clear what she wanted and it was also clear this wouldn’t mean a damn thing later.

* * *

Griffin sighed as she got their canteens out. It had been a long, boring day of non stop walking and all she wanted to do was rest but she knew it’d be better to fill the canteens now instead of later. She headed in the direction she had last seen the stream in. It wasn’t more than a few minutes later that she ran across Blake and Anya straightening their clothes. It was unmistakable what had happened and she felt her world drop out from under her.

Anya just nodded as she passed her on the way back to camp. Blake was frozen as he stared at her with wide eyes. “Princess, I-” He sucked in a breath, “I’m sorry.” He breathed out. He hadn’t meant for her to find out, he just wanted a bit of stress relief and Anya was there. It hadn’t meant anything more to him, but he knew it would for Griffin.

“Why?” She asked. Her voice was flat and empty and it made him flinch. “It’s not like we’re _together_.” She walked off towards the stream and left him there feeling like he was punched in the gut. 

Together. That fucking word. 

No, he supposed, they weren’t together. Maybe that was the problem.


	8. Chapter 8

Bellamy thought life was going rather well at the moment. His sister was mostly over her anger at him (though that was probably due in part to the distraction of Blake and Griffin), he had effectively ‘got the girl’, and they had future knowledge that would save them a lot of heartache and pain. He couldn’t remember a time he had been so hopeful for the future. 

Clarke came into the tent and sighed as she pulled off her boots. She sat a pack down next to his bed and then flopped back on it. He stared at her in bemusement as he finished shaving with his knife until she looked over at him and very bluntly stated, “I’m moving in.”

Bellamy blinked and sat the knife down on the makeshift table in front of him. “Okay.”

“Okay.” She smiled at him and then stripped her pants off to get ready for bed. 

He smirked at her as he walked over to the bed and toed his own boots off. “You just trying to get me in bed, Duchess?”

She grinned at him, “Maybe.” Her smile turned a bit shy as she added, “I also just want to sleep next to you. Is that okay?” She nibble her lip as she stared up at him.

He swallowed thickly as he shucked off his pants and shirt and crawled into bed next to her. “Clarke, you never have to ask. The answer is always going to be yes.” Attention, affection, love, care, protection? Yea, she never had to ask for that. He laid back and held his arms open for her and she let out a breath as she slid into them. 

“Of course, I wouldn’t mind having sex too.” She added impishly and he burst out laughing before rolling them over and kissing her.

* * *

Clarke had been really nervous about last night but honestly, her tent sucked compared to Bellamy’s and she really did want to sleep curled up in his arms. He had very nice arms, nice everything really. She was still kind of stunned with how much she liked him. He was sweet and funny and protective. She was definitely falling for him. Knowing everything they were up against though, the thought terrified her. There was just so much they had to survive and what if he didn’t this time? They were changing things so there was no guarantee. She hadn’t said anything to him about these thoughts yet but they were almost always in the back of her mind. She munched on an apple as she looked over to him to find him already looking at her with a smile.

“Ration for your thoughts?” He asked before biting into his own apple.

She chuckled and smiled at him, “Just thinking about you.”

“Me?” His eyebrows raised, “What about me?”

Bellamy still couldn’t believe his luck. This gorgeous, fierce, strong girl was with him of all people. He was so impressed with her and awed by her and yea, he had also _wanted_ her. But he had really thought that would never happen with how much they had butted heads. He was beyond grateful that their future selves had come back and started changing thing. When she had just moved herself into his tent two nights ago, he had been stunned, but pleased, at her daring. He tried to just play it off with nonchalance and things had just slotted into place. He had never been so happy having someone to come home to. 

Last night she had been in their tent before him. He had slouched in and groaned as he removed his boots. She had been sketching but sat up when he came in and helped him pull his shirt off. He had been sore from all the heavy lifting that day. She had kissed his shoulder and rubbed and squeezed at his muscles until they gave up the fight against her and relaxed. He had moaned, groaned, and grunted through most of the massage. When she was done he had flipped her over and returned the favor in a very pleasurable way, coaxing moans and groans from her mouth just as easily, albeit in a different way. 

Clarke’s smile turned into a smirk, “I’ll tell you later. We’re in public right now, you know.”

His eyes darkened but before he could respond Octavia came over, “Did either of them tell you about Lincoln?” 

Bellamy startled and narrowed his eyes a bit, “Why?”

She huffed and rolled her eyes while crossing her arms over her chest. “Because I want to know.”

“What exactly do you want to know, Octavia?” Clarke asked before the siblings could devolve into a fight.

Octavia lost her hard ass stance and looked down while shrugging, “Just, anything really. I know they trust him but, why? What happened? I’m just curious I guess.”

Clarke smiled at her in understanding while Bellamy rolled his eyes. Yea, Blake had this talk with him, and he knew his opinion on the whole situation, but having to experience it himself was a whole other story. 

“Lincoln doesn’t really agree with the Trikru ways, he’s more of a pacifist. Blake said he wanted to join Flokru since their ideals line up better with his. He saved you at one point and then things got messy. He stabbed Finn when we came to rescue you and then we tortured him to get the antidote to the poison on his knife. Apparently though we all got over that and became allies and he became a traitor to his people in order to help us.” It was a brief, summed up account, but he thought it’d do the trick. He should have known better.

“What did he save me from? Why did you need to rescue me if he saved me? Why did he stab Finn? How did he help us? Why did he even want to after you _tortured_ him?” Octavia fired off the questions in rapid succession and Clarke just looked on with wide eyes. 

Blake gave her a suffering look but she just grinned at him as she extricated herself from the situation. She’d let the siblings hash this out and go check on the others. 

* * *

“Any news from the Ark?” Clarke asked as soon as she spotted Raven. 

“Nothing important. Still just letting the kids talk to their parents. Things should have settled down though now that they’ve got Sydney and Shumway locked up. They’ve been interrogating them to find out who else is involved with the group but have only got a handful of names from Shumway so far. Sydney still isn’t talking.” Raven huffed.

Clarke nodded, not surprised. Sydney had nothing to loose at this point so they had nothing to threaten her with to make her talk. She just really hoped cutting the head off this thing killed it. The last thing they needed were more rebels stepping up and into her shoes.

“So, how are you and Finn doing?” She decided to change the subject and watched a grin spread across Ravens face.

“We’re great.” 

* * *

Raven had spent the next ten minutes gushing about Finn before she had been able to slip away. She was happy for her of course but it still rubbed her the wrong way. Finn had been so attentive and flirty with her and never said a word about his girlfriend. Griffin had explained what happened the first time when she had asked about it and she was still avoiding him because of it. She just couldn’t understand why he would behave like that when he had someone as gorgeous and amazing as Raven. 

While she was thinking about this and sorting through some herbs in the makeshift med bay, Bellamy came up behind her and slipped his arms around her. She jumped in surprise and then sighed and leaned back into him, dropping her herbs so she could grasp his arms and hold him to her. A wave of comfort overtook her as she sank into him and felt him nuzzle her cheek.

When she finally turned he was giving her that cute boyish grin of his that never failed to make her heart stutter. “Hi.” She said softly as her lips pulled up into an answering smile.

“Hey.” He swooped down for a kiss and she wrapped her arms around him. She kind of wanted to just ignore the rest of the world and stay like this forever. God, she was getting sappy.

He pulled back and said, “Just wanted to let you know, I’m taking some of the kids out for shooting practice.”

“Okay. Which ones?” She asked absently as she played with the curls at the nape of his neck.

“Jasper, Monroe, Harper, Murphy, and Mbege, but Miller and Wells will be here in case something happens.” He tucked some hair behind her ear and ran his fingers along her jaw.

“Mhmm. Okay.” She stretched up for him and he leaned down and gave her another kiss. It was more heated than the last as he realised how distracted she was by him. It might have gone longer if Murphy hadn’t called out for him. 

Bellamy pulled back, eyes dark and breathing heavier. His eyes took in her glazed, half lidded gaze and open mouth, her chest rising and falling more rapidly and smirked. 

“Oh, shut up. Go, before they decide you need to be pulled away physically.” She smacked the back of her hand lightly against his chest and he chuckled and gave her another peck before taking off.

* * *

Bellamy and the others had been gone for maybe an hour when something went wrong. She was bandaging someone’s hand when she heard screams coming from outside. She didn’t notice the little curls of smoke seeping into the drop ship from behind the tarp in her panic. When she lifted it to see what was happening something flew past her head and she ducked instinctively.

It started pouring out red smoke and quickly filled the air. She only had a brief glimpse outside of her people lying scattered on the ground and a man in a white suit and helmet with a gun approaching her before her world went black.

* * *

“Alright, guys, lets wrap it up. We should be heading back, try to catch some dinner on the way.” Bellamy said as Jasper took his last shot. They were getting better at least. 

He was really just glad they had the ammo to spare on these little practices. They didn’t use much, maybe five rounds per person on the ones who did well, ten if they didn’t. They made a game of it to see who could get closest to the center and whoever won got to hunt dinner as a final test of their skill. So far it was working well for them.

Murphy won this time and grinned in triumph. He lead the group back, pausing to inspect some tracks every now and then, looking for something to hunt. It was about the third time he did so when he ventured off a ways. He gestured them to stay back and quiet. It took about ten minutes before they heard a few shots ring out and then Murphy’s whistle. “Guys, you feeling up to carrying back a boar for me?” He hollered back and the others whooped and yelled their affirmative.

It was while they were getting it ready to carry that Octavia and Lincoln ran up. 

“Bell! Bellamy!” Octavia cried as she ran up to hug him.

“What the- What happened?” Bellamy demanded as he realised how upset she was.

“We were attacked. These guys in white suits with big helmets stormed into camp with guns and these cannisters full of red smoke. People just fell down like they were knocked out! Lincoln pulled me out, he wouldn’t let me stay so I don’t know what’s happening to them. We have to go back and help them!” Octavia explained as she pulled on him to get him to move.

“Clarke.” He breathed out as he started towards camp. Before he got more than two steps, Lincoln had pulled him back. 

“No. The mountain men have her now. You can’t help her by rushing off without a plan.” Lincoln said softly.

Bellamy struggled with his need to just rush in to try and save her and the logic in Lincoln’s words. Finally he let out a sigh and nodded sharply. He was wound tightly, ready to spring, nervous pent up energy making him pace as he thought about the situation. “It didn’t happen like this last time. What changed?”

“Your Aftaimheda showed up.” Lincoln said. 

“Our what?” O asked, taken aback.

“Commander of the Future. She showed up and changed things. What all did she change? Do you know?” 

“They stopped us from accidentally burning down a village which would have started a war with the grounders.” Jasper offered. 

“Which means a lot of the kids are still alive that wouldn’t have been. Them being alive could have changed any number of things. Like ripples in the water.” Bellamy added and then looked over at Lincoln again, “We need Griffin and Blake.”

Lincoln nodded, “I can have a rider sent to them tonight.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is probably gonna take a bit longer than usual to get out. I'm falling behind my self imposed schedule, things are getting more complicated in the story line so it's taking me longer to write it. Just a heads up. :)
> 
> Oh! And I got the Aftaimheda idea from another story I read, Earth I Will Miss by marauders_groupie  
> I thought it was really clever since the grounders seem like a superstitious bunch. (Seriously, killing Wanheda for her power? -_-; really now.)


	9. Chapter 9

The walk the next day was more stilted and awkward than the day before. Blake felt guilty and he hated it. It was just sex. She was there and offering and he thought it would be some nice stress relief but, in the end, it ended up causing him more stress. How’s that for irony, he thought. 

He hadn’t even thought about what would happen if Griffin caught them. He just wanted someone to make him forget about Echo for a bit. Anya had the same tough, broody, grounder vibe as Echo but she looked nothing like her physically. He didn’t have to care about her or worry about her feelings and for once that was just really nice. He got lost in it and didn’t think about anything but the pleasure of her skin against his, her mouth, her thighs, her hands. 

It was a sharp jerk back to reality when he had looked up and seen Griffin standing there holding the canteens. He only briefly saw her shock before she locked it down and put on a blank mask. She still had that mask on now as they came into Polis. He hadn’t had another chance to talk to her and honestly, he didn’t know what else to say right now anyway. A small part of him thought he shouldn’t even have to say anything or apologize, he was a free man after all. He was frustrated and tired but he knew he owed her better than that. If he had been thinking straight he never would have risked hurting her like that. 

Anya’s guards led them to the tower and up the grounder powered elevator. More guards flanked them as the doors opened and they were brought before Lexa. Blake and Griffin both knelt in front of her as the rest of their contingent kept alert behind them and Anya stepped forward to speak quietly in Trig. 

“ _ **These two claim to be from the future with vital information for you. They were unable to fully convince me of course, but the girl claimed to be Wanheda. She said she could convince**_ **you** _ **.**_ ”

Lexa kept her cool, only raising an eyebrow when she heard the title Wanheda. “ _ **Bring them forward. I will hear them speak.**_ ”

Blake and Griffin rose and stepped forward but Griffin said, “ _ **You will want to clear the room.**_ ” She looked around and added, “ _ **Keep Titus, Indra, and Anya. Surely that will be enough to insure your safety while we talk?**_ ”

Titus narrowed his eyes at her but Lexa nodded and asked, “ _ **Why them?**_ ”

Griffin smiled sadly, “ _ **Because I trust them the most, they are loyal to you.**_ ”

“ _ **They are all loyal to me.**_ ” Lexa said. 

It was a test and Griffin knew it. “ _ **Within varying degrees, sure, but what I have to say should be told to you first. You may tell whoever you like after.**_ ”

Lexa just stared at her for a moment before saying “ _ **Get out.**_ ” She looked at the rest of the people gathered in the room and while there were some protests, they were silenced and escorted out. 

“ _ **Now, Wanheda, how are you going to convince me?**_ ” 

Griffin swallowed hard and stepped closer to her. She switched back to English and said softly, “You told me about Costia. How you loved her and she was taken by Azgeda. How she was tortured for information and her head was sent back to you. How you learned that love was weakness.” This was harder for her than she thought it would be, talking to Lexa, explaining their history. “But you loved me. First you betrayed me to the mountain men and I killed them all to save my people. They called me Wanheda,” She spit the name out, her brows drawn down in anger, “and Azgeda put a price on my head. Nia wanted to kill me and take my power but Roan brought me to you so you would lift his banishment. I tried so hard to fight it at first but I fell in love with you too.” 

The tears pooled in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. Lexa looked stunned. She sucked in a breath and shook her head, “I’ve never told anyone about Costia.”

“You told me. You may have betrayed me in the beginning but you saved me so many times after that. Even when I had the flame, after you were gone, you saved me in there as well.” Griffin told her as she tried to get her emotions under control.

“How?” Lexa breathed out as her mind worked furiously to come to terms with everything.

“The flame was the second version. The first was controlled by Allie, she lacked any compassion and destroyed the world, caused the first Praimfaya. She duplicated it and gave it to as many people as she could. It took them over so that they weren’t themselves anymore, they were Allie. I took the flame to stop Allie from taking over everyone and I had to fight her inside the flame. You were there. You held off her minions long enough so I could destroy her. I guess you could say Allie was Becca Pramheda’s first enemy.” Griffin was careful with her words. None of them knew anything about computers, A.I. or programming. She didn’t think explaining such thing now would be a good idea. 

Lexa visibly startled at Becca’s name but cleared her throat and asked, “Do you still have the flame in you? Do you know the names of the other commanders?”

“I don’t. That would have been a nightmare, having two Heda’s, two flames.” She gave a wry grin. “I took it out as soon as Allie was destroyed. And I was a bit busy when I did have it so I only met you and Becca at that time.” Griffin said before adding, “Though we did meet Sheidheda later when my daughter took the flame. Gaia helped her through that though.” She looked over at Indra and nodded with a smile. Indra sucked in a breath and slowly nodded back. Titus was a bit wide eyed, while Anya appeared unnerved with her lips pressed tightly together.

“I believe you.” Lexa said while staring at her thoughtfully. Her eyes swept Griffin’s form and Blake tried to hold back the rush of possessiveness. He knew he had no right to feel it.

“Good, because another Praimfaya is coming and we only have ten months to prepare for it.”

Griffin and Blake explained the basics; that there was a bunker that would fit 1,200 of her people, 100 from each clan. They explained that night bloods would be able to handle the radiation and that they could create them. They told her there was a place that the death wave would skip over and their plan to start creating farms there if she could pave the way for them. 

The sun had long ago set by the time they were done and everyone was exhausted. Lexa had them shown to a bedroom suite and they were so tired they barely blinked at having to share it. They kicked off their shoes and were asleep by the time their heads hit the pillows.

The next morning, however, was a different story. Blake woke up to find himself spooned around her, a leg wedged between hers and his arm draped over her. His face was pressed into her hair and he took a deep breath of her and tried to relax. He knew she was likely still asleep but he wanted a moment to just revel in this before extracting himself.

He still felt like shit about what had happened but after having such a good nights sleep he was more clear headed than ever. He had always loved Griffin one way or another. He might not be ready to jump into a relationship with her right now, but he could at least let her know that he loved her, that he didn’t want to hurt her. Maybe they could just take thing slow? 

He sighed deeply and breathed her in again. Echo was gone. It still hurt but, here in this bed, holding Griffin, it didn’t hurt as much.

Slowly and carefully, he extricated himself from her, trying not to wake her. He rubbed a hand down his face and walked over to a table that had a basin of water and a rag. He’d get himself cleaned up a bit, wake Griffin, then go hunt down some food. He was starving.

It was late morning by the time they saw Lexa again. She only had Titus, Anya, and Indra in the room again. They were sat at a table with two more empty seats which Blake and Griffin took.

“I want you to start at the beginning and explain everything.” Lexa said as they sat down.

So they did. They told her about landing on earth, the war with the grounders, the ark coming down and the war with the mountain men. Lexa learned about making Skaikru the 13th clan and falling in love with Clarke, how Azgeda blew up the mountain with the help of Emerson, loosing 300 warriors due to Skaikru’s mistrust of her and her eventual death. They explained more about Allie and how she had warned them of the second Praimfaya. They talked about Roan and Indra and the politics in play after Ontari’s death. They described how they prepared for Praimfaya, what had gone wrong and what had gone right and their plans moving forward from here. It was the longest discussion they had ever had on the subject but they were both agreed that out of anyone, Lexa needed to know everything as Heda. 

She sat there staring at the table for a long moment. The others were in a similar state, everyone quiet and thoughtful. “Let’s have some dinner delivered up and we can discuss your future plans tomorrow. I think we could all use some time to digest this information.” Lexa said as she gestured at Anya. 

Anya got up to talk to someone at the door and food appeared shortly thereafter, a few servants carrying in platters of food and cups of wine. It had been an exhausting ordeal for Blake and Griffin and it wasn’t over yet. 

They each had a bath that night and changed into the clothes a servant left for them. They were the typical grounder clothes. Griffin got the standard tight pants and a long sleeved wrap around blouse with a corset. It reminded her of the outfit she had worn when she fought off Allie though there was faded gold trimming on the blouse and the corset was slightly different. Blake on the other hand ended up dressed similarly to Lincoln with the patchwork pants, threadbare shirt and heavy leather jacket they gave him. It wasn’t that dissimilar to his usual outfit actually.

Blake made it back to their room first and laid his jacket over the foot board of the bed and laid down with his hands behind his head. He didn’t have long to think before there were footsteps and then voices in the hall. 

“Clarke.” Lexa called out.

“Griffin. Please, call me Griffin.” He sat up a bit and thought about moving closer to hear better. 

“I’m sorry.” Lexa paused and he wished he could see them to gauge their body language. “You said we were in love.”

He heard Griffin suck in a breath and could imagine the tortured look on her face, “We were.” She answered, “But it wasn’t good for our people.” There was another pause and he leaned forward a bit more, almost getting up from the bed, 

“It’s hard, seeing you again, but it’s been a long time and I’m in love with someone else. I just- I want you to have a better life than the one before. I want you to learn that their’s more to life than just surviving and I want you to find love again. It just won’t be with me.” He could hear the tears in her voice at the end. 

“Thank you.” Lexa finally said, voice tight with emotion, “For explaining that.” And then there were foot steps walking away and Blake let out a breath and leaned back again. 

Griffin slowly came into the room and he could see she was hurting. He got up, walked over to her, and pulled her into a tight hug as she broke down a bit.

“It’s okay, you’re okay, Princess. I’m so sorry.” He murmured to her as she cried.

“I don’t even know why I’m so upset right now. She’s alive. I haven’t been pinning away for her or anything. Things are fine right now.”

“You may not be in love with her now but you did love her once. Maybe it’s just a sadness for what could have been? But either way, it’s okay to be upset.” He guided her to the bed as her tears dried up and they slipped in together. He held his arms open for her and she sighed as she laid next to him, her head propped up on his shoulder and his arms wrapped around her. 

His throat worked as he held back his own tears, his mind racing at what he could have lost with her. “I’m so sorry, Clarke. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m so, so sorry.”

She stirred a bit, “You’re forgiven.” She closed her eyes and sighed, “Seriously, Bell. You don’t have to apologize, okay? We’ll work it out.”

He took a deep shuddering breath and released it in a whoosh, holding her tighter for a moment. 

She could imagine what he had been thinking and honestly, she didn’t blame him. It had hurt a bit but she’d get over it. She didn’t have a claim on him, he’d just got out of a serious relationship, and then he had her feelings shoved in his face back at camp. Not to mention watching their younger selves come together. It was a lot. She would allow him this one. She snuggled closer and drifted off.

* * *

“Griffin! Blake! _**You’re need in the throne room immediately!**_ ” A guard shouted as he banged on the door.

They both startled awake and scrambled up and out of bed. “ _ **What’s going on?** ”_ Griffin asked the guard as they came out of the room. 

“ _ **A messenger arrived.**_ ” He didn’t explain further so they hurried down the halls and up the elevator to the throne room.

Lexa was there with Titus already. Indra was coming in with them and Anya wasn’t far behind.

“ _ **What is it, Heda?**_ ” Titus asked once they were all gathered.

“Skaikru has been taken by the mountain.” She responded seriously as she looked right at Griffin.

Griffin sucked in a sharp breath and held it for a moment as her mind whirled. “Bell.” She reached out blindly.

Blake grabbed her hand and held it tight, “You don’t have to do this, Princess.” His voice was low, coaxing, “You don’t have to be Wanheda again. We can do better this time.”

She turned and looked at him and he knew her answer before she opened her mouth, “They took our people, Bell. I wont ‘do better’ at the expense of our _people_. I will try to spare the innocent this time but… I think I will always be Wanheda.”

 _“Not_ always.” He squeezed her hand and gave her such a fiercely protective look that she had to smile at him. One day, maybe she could just be Clarke again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are motivating and inspiring ;)


	10. Chapter 10

When Bellamy and the others carefully made their way into camp, they found the place trashed. Bellamy ran to the radio tent but that was trashed too and the radios were gone. Fuck. He angrily closed the flap and looked around at the others picking their way through what remained before heading to the drop ship.

“Anyone in here?” He called out cautiously. It didn’t seem likely but he still had some small hope that Clarke was hiding.

“Bellamy?” The voice sounded muffled and far away and his heart skipped a beat. He heard a thud and then a muffled curse before part of the floor opened up. Raven stuck her head out and the disappointment on his face must have been obvious since she rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t look too happy to see me.” She muttered.

“Sorry.” He said quickly, abashed, “I thought-”

“I know what you thought.” She cut him off, giving him a sympathetic look before getting down to business. “So. What’s the plan?”

* * *

Clarke woke up to a white room and looked around in confusion and disorientation. It took her a minute to get her bearings and realise what had happened. When she noticed the IV in her arm she checked the bag it was hooked to and saw that it was just saline. It was most likely given to her for dehydration but she contemplated the possibility of it being mislabeled and jerks the IV out of her arm. She’d rather be dehydrated than take that chance. She walked around to inspect the room, looked out the little round window, and paced back and forth. She just needed to wait a little while and when someone finally came to check on her, she’d demand to see Wallace. She knew how this played out, Griffin told her. She just needed to make sure they last here long enough for help to come. It’d be fine. 

The door finally opened after an hour and a weaselly looking man was smiling at her with two guards flanking him. “Clarke, it’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard _so_ much about you. I’m President Wallace.”

Clarke sucked in a breath. It was Cage, he was too young to be Dante. What the fuck was she suppose to do now? If Cage was here, calling himself the president, then the coup already happened. Where was Dante? How was she suppose to talk their way out now? 

“What do you want from us? Why are we here?” She tried to not let the panic through her voice. 

Cage smiled, all thin lips and sharp edges. It set her teeth on edge. “We just want to live on the ground again, as we were meant to do, Clarke. Now, I hear, that your leaders want to kill us for this bunker.” He laughed humorlessly as he paced in front of her, “Ironic, really.”

“How could you know that?” She breathed out in dawning horror. 

His lips thinned in a non-smile as he looked at her, “Hmm. Yes, we heard your little radio calls. My father was all for sending out a group to talk with you but I can’t say I agreed with him.”

Clarke’s brow furrowed, “Why? We would have talked with you and explained what we knew.”

“I don’t believe that you would have. ‘Why not just kill them again?’ I believe your chancellor asked. And I have to admit, I’m curious about that, Clarke. ‘Again.’ So I’m gonna ask you a few questions and I want you to answer them.” He tapped a fist against his mouth in thought as he watched her.

Clarke took a breath and swallowed before asking, “And if I don’t?”

He gave her that non-smile of his again. His lips spread out thinly but there was no humor or good-will in it. “Then I take your friends one by one and have them drilled into. Dr. Tsing is very much hoping you’re difficult. She’s been looking forward to this.”

Clarke’s breaths were harsh as her blood pounded in her ears. “What do you want to know?”

Cage’s lips actually tipped up a bit at that, like he was genuinely amused by her response, her desire to protect her people. It made her want to kill him.

* * *

“It’s not safe for you in the village until Anya gets back. The truce is fragile right now until we have word of a more permanent alliance.” Lincoln said as he led them into his cave. “You can stay here for tonight.” 

He had explained that it would take about 8 hours for the rider to make it to Polis but that he had no idea how Lexa would handle the situation. Griffin and Blake had seemed sure and confident in getting an alliance but they would need to go over plans and it might take a few hours before they left. If they got horses to ride back then they should be here by the next afternoon, but if not it’d take much longer.

There were so many things up in the air right now and nothing that Bellamy could do about any of it. 

“Hey, Bell.” Octavia came over and put a hand on his shoulder.

“O. You know that’s what Griffin calls Blake, right? It’s kind of creepy coming from you now.” He said as he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

She laughed as her hand fell down and bumped his shoulder with hers. “You bringing it up is creepy.” He cracked a smile. “She’s gonna be fine, Bellamy. Okay? You know she’s strong and smart and she’s gonna make it out of this.” 

He huffed out a breath and tilted his head back. “Yeah. Doesn’t make me worry less.” 

She smiled sadly, “You wouldn’t be you, big brother, if you didn’t worry about us all the time. Just try to get some sleep, okay?”

“Yeah, okay. You too, O.” He watched as she walked over to the pile of furs in the corner and laid down between Harper and Raven. Monroe was on Harpers other side and the boys were in various sitting positions around the cave. Bellamy rubbed a hand over his eyes and took a seat across from Lincoln, trying to ignore the way the other man watched him. It was disconcerting how quiet and watchful he was.

* * *

“Clarke.”

She jerked up and out of bed at the harsh whisper of her name. “Monty?”

“Shh!” He looked back out the door a moment before looking back at her. “Be quiet, we gotta move fast.”

“Were you with the others? Are they okay?” She asked quickly and quietly. She knew there were cameras in here so she tilted her head down as she spoke, and brought her hands up to her face. She tried to make it seem like she had woken from a nightmare.

“No. I haven’t seen anyone else. There’s this girl, Maya, who let me out. We need to go, Clarke.” He waved her forward impatiently but her heart dropped. 

“I can’t. If I leave he’ll start killing them. As long as I’m here, answering his questions, they’re safe. Find the others, Monty. Get them out if you can or just hide them. Hide _yourself_. Bellamy was out of camp so he’ll get Blake and Griffin. We just need to last long enough for them to get here.” Clarke took a deep breath and looked up at him. He looked so torn at the thought of leaving her there but he nodded.

There was a quick whisper from outside and he jerked and nodded again, at Maya presumably. “Stay safe, Clarke. I’ll do what I can for the others.” He hesitated just a moment but he closed the door and took off. 

Clarke sighed heavily and laid back down in her bed. Cage had kept her awake for hours talking. He’d ask a question and she would always try to answer in a way that left him with more questions. The more questions he had, the longer her people stayed alive. She just had to keep talking. 

She was sure he’d be back first thing in the morning too but was surprised when she was delivered both breakfast and lunch with no sign of him. 

It wasn’t until they had cleared her lunch tray away that he finally appeared and she jumped a bit. “Are my people okay? You haven’t done anything to them have you?”

He breezed into the room with two guards again, giving her that thin lipped smile of his. “Relax, Clarke. It’s almost like you don’t trust me.”

“You kidnapped us.” She states flatly.

“Semantics.” He waves a hand in a dismissive gesture and she clenches her jaw. “One of your little friends have gone missing. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

“I’m sorry, I never developed the ability to see through walls or read minds.” Clarke rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest in defiance. “Who was it?”

Cage sneered at her, “Monty Green. When we catch him, he will be the first put to the drill. Unless, of course, you can tell us where he is.”

Clarke stared back at him, unimpressed. “I’ve been locked in this room with nothing but a tiny round window. How would I know where he is?”

He looked her over for a moment before nodding to himself and sniffing. “Alright. I’ll take one of the others for now. For his indiscretion.”

“What? No!” She started forward but the guards raising their guns stopped her in her tracks. “Please!”

Cage just stared at her coldly, “Don’t get any ideas of your own, Clarke.” Then he left. 

Clarke breathed heavily and tried to push down how helpless she felt. She had no idea how long it would take before reinforcements got here but she couldn’t risk leaving this room until then.

Cage came back after dinner with another round of questions. She was tired from the stress but she kept answering him, trying to be as vague and non descriptive as possible and leaving enough gaps for more questions without it seeming to be on purpose. 

He was getting frustrated with her, she could tell. 

Again, it was hours before he left and she went to bed exhausted. Again, she was woken by the harsh whisper of her name at the door.

“Clarke!” 

She jerked up in bed, breathing heavily. She felt a bit foggy and looked blearily at the door. “Bellamy?” Was she dreaming or was he finally here?

* * *

Bellamy was getting restless. As soon as midday hit his anxiety had doubled as they waited for word from Polis. It wasn’t safe to go back to camp yet so they couldn’t distract themselves by cleaning it up and going through the wreckage to see what was left. They didn’t have any more radios to let the Ark know what was going on and get advice from them either. Not that Bellamy thought that would be very helpful but at least it would have been an option. 

Instead they skinned and cooked the boar, that Murphy had killed yesterday, for breakfast. There was too much for just the nine of them so Bellamy asked Lincoln if he wanted to share it around the village. Lincoln appeared slightly surprised but grateful as he hauled off the parts they didn’t eat. But now it was getting closer to when they would expect someone to be back with word from Polis and he could no longer contain how antsy it was making him. 

“Bellamy!” His sister groaned, “Please just-” The sound of hooves cut her off and everyone jerked a bit in surprise. Bellamy sprang to his feet.

It was Blake. He halted the horse as soon as he spotted them and it trotted in place and whinnied. “The others are at the village, let’s go.” He jerked his head back to the direction he came from and led the small group into the village. It was certainly interesting.

The grounders didn’t have tents or houses. They had these thrown together scrap metal structures scattered with a few cabin like buildings and pens. It was very medieval looking and he wasn’t sure what he had expected, but this somehow wasn’t it.

They were led to an open building that was more of a roof on four posts than anything else. It had scraps of fabric that could be let down to form walls but they were pinned back at the moment. Griffin was there with Anya and who he could only guess was the Commander. He walked right up to them.

“What’s the plan, Griffin?” His tone was gruff but she turned and smiled at him.

“We’re going in through the tunnels. We’ll use the mine entrance since it’s closer to the intake area. I don’t have any tone generators for the reapers so we need to take them out or knock them out.” She started to explain.

“Why wouldn’t we just kill them?” Bellamy interrupted.

Blake rolled his eyes as he came up behind them, “Because we might still be able to save them.”

Bellamy frowned. “Do you think they would want to be saved? You told me the stories. If I became a flesh eating monster and helped capture and kill my people from my old village, I don’t think I’d want to just wake up one day and remember all of that. I think the most merciful thing you can do for them is to just kill them.”

Griffin’s lips thinned in a line as she looked down and then glanced up at the fierce looking brunette. “Your call, Heda.” She said softly.

Ah, so that was Lexa. Bellamy looked her over and wondered how Clarke ended up with someone that looked like a pole sized icicle was shoved up her ass. 

“If they can be spared safely, do so. It will be up to the families how they are handled if we can cure them.” Lexa declared.

Everyone nodded and Griffin jumped back to it, pointing to a map she had drawn out. “We’ll enter here on Level three. It leads right to the medical labs. The cages will be one level above it but the command center is on level seven.” 

She explained where everyone was likely being held, who to kill and who to spare, where to go and how to get there. There were air vents, back ways, and service tunnels. Between her and Blake, they had it all covered except what was going on in there _right now_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I've got it all mapped out and I'm halfway through chapter 11. I just need to finish writing it and clean it up. Sorry for the wait!


	11. Chapter 11

“Do you think she’ll be there?” Blake asked quietly. He was nervous about this.

Griffin looked over at him to ask who and then quickly shut her mouth again. Echo. She had forgotten that’s how they met. “I don’t know. This is happening earlier than last time, she might not be there yet.” She clenched her jaw against another warning. He knew she wouldn’t be the person he was used to. He didn’t need to hear it from her again. 

Blake nodded tightly and she saw the muscle in his jaw tick. They kept walking. There were about nine grounders behind them along with what was left of the hundred. They didn’t need an army for this plan, the tunnels wouldn’t fit one anyway. 

“Alright, we’re getting close. Let’s get set up.” Blake said suddenly. A few of the grounders had already covered themselves in deer blood earlier and they had the white limestone markings on their face. They would be acting as reapers while the rest of them would pretend to be tied to the log and brought in as captives.

Everyone got in position and slowly, they made there way to the tunnels. Blake just really hoped they didn’t run into an actual raider party.

* * *

When the doors opened, and Dr. Tsing came out with her guards and assistant, it was a blood bath. Two of the guards turned on their tone generators. However, before the first one was able to get his injector out, the grounder that he was approaching had run him through with a sword. Indra lurched forward to slice the throat of the other guard and that’s when the doctor and her assistant finally realised what was going on.

Blake rushed forward and grabbed her as she started to run. She tried to scream and he stabbed a knife into her neck. Another grounder got the assistant and then it was over. 

Griffin was at the door, peering around to check if it was clear and then waving the others in. Simple as that. 

Indra took a group and headed off to level two. They would be getting their people out of the cages and ready to fight their way out if needed. Blake and Griffin lead the others to the quarantine section to find their own people. They’d check the dorms afterwards if they weren’t there. 

They looked into every window and door and didn’t see a single person. Everyone tensed as they heard a scuffle down the hall but it quieted and they assume Indra had it handled. Around another corner two people in hazmat suits were arguing in low voices. Blake waved the others to a stop and tried to duck back himself but one of them yelled out.

“Blake?”

He stuck his head back around the corner to find Monty taking the helmet off and giving him a grin. Maya pulled hers off behind him and he let out a breath of relief. 

“It’s Monty and Maya.” He told the others as everyone came forward and met in the middle. Jasper rushed to the front and hugged Monty and they both laughed in relief.

“Where’s Clarke?” Bellamy asked as he pushed past the others.

“She’s here, she’s fine. Cage is keeping her in quarantine and questioning her every night. The others are in cages though and they’ve already started drilling. We’ve lost Jessica, Dax, and Roma. They’ve got Diggs right now.” Monty said as he led them a bit down the corridor. “Clarke’s in here.”

They open the door and Bellamy is right there, “Clarke?” he whisper-yells into the room. Blake sees her jerk upright.

“Bellamy?” She sounds disbelieving but after a moment she rushes forward and Bellamy pulls her into a tight hug. Blake gives them a moment and looks away.

Jasper is looking shyly at Maya as he asks, “So you’re Maya?” 

She blushes and ducks her head with a smile, “Yea. You’re Jasper right? Monty talks about you a lot.”

Jasper gave her a goofy grin and Blake rolled his eyes at them. Yea, they were cute, but the didn’t have time for this. He looked back over at Bellamy and Clarke to see they had finally separated from their lip lock and cleared his throat. “Okay guys, let’s move out. We need to get to level two and get the rest of our people.”

Blake startled as the alarms started blaring suddenly and he cursed. 

“They’ve probably seen you on the cameras, we’ve got to hurry.” Monty said as they rushed toward the stairs. 

“We’ve also got grounders here that were on their way to the cages. Something might have happened there.” Bellamy suggested.

As soon as they hit level two there were shots ringing out and it was chaos. Mbege went down with a head shot and Bellamy grunted as he stumbled and his back hit the wall. Griffin lifted her gun and shot back as they all scrambled behind the pillars. 

“Bellamy!” Clarke cried out. 

Griffin jerked her head around and her eyes widened as she saw the blood on his hands where he was pressing them into his abdomen. “Shit.” She breathed out and then she’s grabbing Clarke’s hands and telling her to keep pressure on the wound. She took a deep breath and glanced back around the pillar in time to see Indra and two other grounders come up behind the guards and kill them. “Okay, it’s clear. Let’s go.” Griffin and Clarke helped Bellamy down the hall towards the others. 

“Bell, take Monty and irradiate this level. We need to buy some time.” Griffin turned to Maya and Jasper who have been sticking close together, “Maya, make sure your people know that we can help them get to the ground, _without_ anyone dying for it, but only if we negotiate with Dante. Cage is going to get _everyone_ killed. Do you know where Dante is?” She asked.

Maya nodded eagerly, “Yea, he’s in one of the quarantine rooms, just past Clarke’s.”

“Okay. Stay away from this level, stick to the commons or residences. We’ll warn you if we plan to irradiate anywhere else but stay out of the fighting okay?” 

She really wanted her to survive this time. She wanted to give them time to get to know each other and fall in love again. She wanted things to go right for them this time. She promised herself that she wouldn’t kill her this time.

Maya nodded and after a shy smile shared between her and Jasper, she took off. Meanwhile Clarke had gotten Bellamy in the room and laid out next to some medical supplies. Griffin rushed over to help. 

“Is there an exit wound?” She asked Clarke and then helped her roll him slightly so they could check. 

“No.” Clarke’s voice was more of a whimper but she took a deep breath and pulled herself together. “Okay. Bellamy, we need to get the bullet out.”

Griffin stood up and looked at the supplies available. Thankfully they had forceps, alcohol, bandages and medicines. She grabbed it all and turned back to them.

“Okay, this will knock him out and then I’ll get the bullet out. We can’t leave it in there.” She told them as she held up the injection pen.

Bellamy tried to sit up and protest, “No, if you knock me out then someone will have to carry me out of here. I’m not missing this fight or putting anyone in danger, I can take it.”

“It’s okay, they have adrenaline too. I can bring you out of it as soon as we’re done, promise.” Griffin assured him and pushed him back down. She pushed the pen into his neck and hit the button to release the medicine. His head swayed groggily before falling back and he was out.

“You sure you can do this?” Clarke asked nervously.

“Yep, no problem. This won’t be the first time I’ve dealt with bullet wounds.” Griffin responds with a smile to hide her own nerves. 

* * *

Blake and Monty quickly and quietly made their way through the vents to get to the utility control room. Blake basically remembered what he had done last time to irradiate level five and would be able to point out the basics and let Monty take over and adjust things so that they radiate level two instead. 

When they heard the alarms start blaring again they both sighed in relief. It was done. 

“Alright. Let’s get back and regroup.” Blake said before taking a deep breath and crawling back through the vents. 

By the time they made it back to the others, the rest of the grounders were out of cages and taking care of each other, Bellamy was stitched and awake, and Griffin was no where to be found. 

“Where is she?” He asked as soon as he found Clarke.

“Level three. Dante’s in quarantine. She grabbed a lab coat and took off to go talk to him.” She answered before starting in on her own questions, “So what’s the plan? How are we getting out of here?”

Blake sighed but gestured Raven and Monty over. “We need a way to hack into the security system. We have no idea where Cage is and we can’t exactly go wandering around to find him. Can you guys do that?” 

They looked at each other and scoffed, “Have you met us?” Monty asked sarcastically. 

Blake smiled and rolled his eyes, “Get to it then. Once we find him we either send a team out to kill him or find a way to draw him out and kill him. Once he’s gone, hopefully we can get Dante to step back up and calm everyone the fuck down. If not-” He pauses and runs a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh, “If not, then we kill anyone who tries to fight us but we spare the innocent.”

“That’s a lot of killing.” Raven says flatly.

“Yea, we’re gonna try to avoid that, obviously.” Blake shoots back at her.

* * *

“Who are you?” Dante asks as soon as she steps in the room. 

“Clarke Griffin, the elder. And you’re Dante.” She sets a med bag down on the bed and grabs a blood pressure cuff out of it. “It’s nice to see you alive again. I actually did like you the first time around.” She says casually as she velcros the cuff around his arm. “We need your help. Your son has started killing my people and last time this happened I was too late and the only thing I could do to save my people was irradiate the entire mountain which ended up killing all of your people.” 

He jerks as she inflates the cuff and looks at her in horror, “What? Why on Earth would I help you?”

She jerks his arm back in place and says “Because I don’t want to do that. You didn’t believe me last time and forced my hand.” She made a show of checking his blood pressure for a moment before releasing the air and stowing it away. She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes, “I need you to know that I will do whatever it takes to protect my people. I do not want to murder all these innocent people again but I will if I have to. I will bear it so they don’t have to. I need you to step up and do the same for _your_ people. Help us save them too.”

Dante stared at her for a moment and then closed his eyes, “What do you need, Clarke?”

“I need you to step up and be president. We’re already working on a plan to take Cage out with minimal losses but you are key to that plan. If the guards don’t listen to you once he’s out of the picture, we’ll have to kill them. I know some of them have families, I’d rather not leave any orphans here when there’s a better way.” Griffin sighed and fiddled with the bag, “We can both do better and help _each other_.”

“You’re going to kill him.” Dante said with a blank face.

“The world is about to end again and we have limited room and supplies. Do you think it wise to keep someone like him around when he staged a coup and risked the lives of both of our people? This could have been a peaceful alliance but now there are already deaths on both sides.”

* * *

Blake went to talk to Indra and see if everyone was doing okay. He saw Harper and Murphy giving some of the grounders water and Monroe found some protein bars in a cabinet and started handing those out to the ones who looked the worse off. Their people were coming together and helping each other and it could only be good for future relations. This was a much better introduction for Skaikru than accidentally blowing up a village. 

“Is everyone doing okay? Do you need anything?” He asked her.

Indra regarded him thoughtfully for a moment, “We’re good right now. They just need to get their strength up in case it comes to a fight.” 

Blake nodded and turned to see if he might be needed elsewhere and came face to face with Echo. It knocked the breath from him. She didn’t speak to him, barely acknowledged him. It wasn’t her. It wasn’t _his_ Echo. She didn’t know him. 

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he finally came to terms with it. They had been together for a year in relative peace on the ring. She had taught him how to fight better and kept him sane. She had been a comfort to him when he felt alone and hopeless. He had listened to her worries and fears, showed her how to survive in space. They had built something together up there and then they came back down to Earth and everything went to hell again. 

She didn’t want to go with him to search for Octavia. She thought it was reckless to go through the anomaly when they didn’t understand it. She tried to talk him out of it. But Clarke didn’t. Clarke had understood. She had gone with him and here they are in the past, trying to fix all their mistakes.

God, there were so many mistakes, he thought. Maybe he could start to fix a few he had made with Clarke. As soon as this whole thing with the mountain was cleared up he needed to sit down with her and clear up some other things. 

* * *

Griffin made it back unscathed and hunted down Blake. “Okay, I’ve got Dante on board. He’ll try to talk the others down when it comes to it. We just need to find Cage.”

He looked over at her and nodded, “Already on it. Monty and Raven are hacking the security system so we can find him. How is Dante gonna talk them down? Is he going with us when we kill his son?” Blake raised an eyebrow.

She knew what he was really asking and answered both questions, “He knows it’s come down to a choice between his son and his people. He knows that Cage did this to himself when he staged the coup.” She took a deep breath, “And I thought we could hack into the intercoms and get him to talk to his people that way.”

Blake nodded thoughtfully. “The place we had to bust down the wall to hack into the radios is on this level. I’ll talk to Raven and Monty and ask if it’ll connect to the intercoms too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if it was ever stated in the series, how long Bellamy and Echo were together for, but I'm going with just a year because if it took him 3 years to even forgive her I think it would take a while to become close enough to get to the point of friends and then love as well.  
> If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or message me on [Tumblr](https://sableu3.tumblr.com/)


	12. In Conclusion

So this story is officially discontinued and I’ve been asked to post a plot overview or summary of what would have happened. But first, a bonus. I made a happier alternate ending to chapter 11 originally before deciding it happened too soon and felt rushed and edited it out. Here is the happy fluff I wrote:

* * *

  
Overall, her visit with Dante didn’t take long and she made it back to level two unscathed. As soon as she walked into the cage room that had become the central meeting area though, her heart stopped. 

There was Blake talking to Echo. 

As if he felt her presence he turned and looked at her. She didn’t know what her face was doing but he quickly moved away from Echo and towards her. 

“Hey.” He said simply.

She took in a shaky breath before responding, “Hey.”

He looked nervous as he shifted on his feet, “Um, I was-”

“Please don’t,” She interrupted quickly. “You don’t have to explain.”

Blake sighed and grabbed her elbow, dragging her off to a quieter area. “I do. I know she’s not my-” He stopped and cursed his word choice, “She’s not the Echo I knew. I didn’t even see her when she stopped me to ask a question. Clarke-” He huffed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “You mean everything to me. I’m sorry you didn’t know that, that I didn’t show it.

When we first got here and realised we could change the past, I stayed. Without even a thought for her, I stayed here with you. And it’s not that she didn’t mean anything to me, she did. I loved her. But I need you to know that I love you too and you mean everything to me.” He’s looking at her so earnestly and she gasps in breaths as the tear pool in her eyes and then spill over. “Clarke?”

“I-” She’s not even sure what to say. He loves her too? “I don’t understand.” Does he mean he loves her too as family? Does he love her too romantically? Does he-

Her thoughts cut off as he bends down and slants his mouth across hers. He kisses her slow and deep and it’s everything she ever imagined it would be. Her breath hitches and she wraps her arms around him. He nibbles on her lower lip before soothing it with his tongue and she moans into his mouth, pressing closer to him. 

When they finally break apart he smirked at her, “Understand now?” He asked.

“Yea.” She breathed out, “But you still love her too?” She asked. He had used the past tense when he said he ‘loved’ Echo but then said he loves her too. It was confusing.

Blake frowns, “I don’t know. I thought I did but when I saw her-” He looked off to the side and she could tell he’s uncomfortable, “I didn’t feel what I thought I would.”

“What did you think you would feel? Longing?” She asked.

“Yea, and I did but- It was more a longing for a friend than a lover.” He looked so confused and frustrated that she found it endearing. 

“But you love me?” She questions again as a smile pulls at her lips.

Blake laughs and wraps his arms around her again, “God, yes. I’ve loved you for so long, Clarke. But things were always getting in the way and it was never the right time and then I thought you had died and a piece of me died with you.” 

His expression is anguished so she lifts her hands to cup his cheeks and tells him exactly how she feels, “I love you, Bellamy.” And his expression lightens with his joy as he swoops down for another kiss. 

“I thought you might.” He murmurs against her lips, “But it’s nice to hear you say it.”

* * *

  
You’re welcome.

Moving on, back to plot outline…

  
Dante agrees. The plan is for him to talk on the intercom system to get people to realize that Cage is going to get them killed and some guards seem nervous all of a sudden and some try to defect but Cage shoots them and the others get back in line or at least pretend to. Monty figures out how to irradiate level seven and Dante warns people on the intercom before they do it. They’re trying to flush them out. Blake and Griffin wait outside the control room and let the guards rush past but shoot Cage with a tranq. The guards stop and turn to them but they don’t attack right away. ‘You might want to talk to your old president before attacking us. We don’t want to kill you but we will if we have to.’ They back off but nobody lowers their guard. Finally Dante comes in and takes back control. Monty never irradiated level 7 so they’re all good. It was a bluff. 

So the grounders grab their people and leave through the main door to avoid the reapers, Lexa and Indra stay for the negotiation talks just so they know whats going on. Griffin and Blake explain the basics of what’s going on (future shit, night blood, end of the world) to Dante and he agrees to help them by lending a rover (so they can go to Becca’s Lab) and getting them back in touch with the Ark. 

The grounders aren’t going to be happy about this alliance though. Lexa will need to try to spin it and truss up Cage like they once did with Finn. Dante offers to heal the reapers as a sign of good faith too. Their medical facilities along with a slower detox means it can be done. 

Bellamy and Clarke stay at Mount Weather with the kids while Bellamy heals. Griffin and Blake take Raven and Monty to Becca’s Lab to get the night blood files and info to send to the ark. 

In the mountain Jasper has time to bond with Maya as they integrate their people and smooth over people’s fear. Clarke takes care of Bellamy as they both try to be there for their people and get back in touch with the Ark.

After being out of contact with the ark they find out that they floated 300 people to save their dwindling oxygen supply. Abby reassures them it was mostly the elderly and non essential personnel. (as if that makes it better but at least they are getting smarter about who they kill) It buys them 3 more months. 

They get their people settled and Dante gives them a rover so they can race to Becca’s lab. They paint the symbol of the coalition on it with Lexa’s approval and give her a radio so they can keep in contact. 

  
On the way to Becca’s lab they run into Emori, her brother, and the other dude. They recruit Emori and her brother, kill the dude already under ALIE’s influence and then kill ALIE. They explain things to Emori, get to Beccca’s lab, shoot down a drone and let Raven use it to take out the rest, and make it in relatively unscathed because they knew what to expect. 

Raven and Monty get to work on the files and they can send them straight to the Ark from the lab without having to get back to the mountain first. Blake and Griffin take this time to either explain further to Emori and tell her about Murphy or take some time for themselves to rest together. It would probably take a while for them to get all the files together but no longer than a day since they don’t have to figure out what they’re saying, just find them and send them. 

At some point Abby asks just how much radiation night blood can handle and Griffin says they have a radiation chamber so she can do an experiment to find out if she wants but Blake freaks out on her and refuses to let her and Abby is just quiet in shock and thankful that Blake is there to stop her because god knows what would happened and neither want to risk her. Griffin tries to reassure them that the death wave was way worse and the chamber would be a piece of cake for her but neither want to take the chance, and after all, they know it works anyway, the question was just idle speculation. It does however force a conversation between Blake and Griffin later about how he can’t loose her and they get closer to the point of him confessing his feeeeelings.

Abby and Jackson get started right away on the files and it’ll take them a few days to go through it all and figure it out before they start actually making night blood. 

In the mean time, Blake and Griffin deliver the others back to the mountain while they go to Polis to check in with Lexa. She has gathered the ambassadors and told them a watered down version of events. They know Praimfaya is coming and that Skaikru will be helping them survive it. She puts a spin on things and says that Becca Pramheda was Skaikru when she came down from the sky to help them through the first Praimfaya and now Griffin Aftaimheda was here to help through the next. Griffin and Bellamy have already told her the true history of Becca at this point.

Now obviously if they make everyone nightbloods the grounders whole religion would be tossed on it’s head. Some grounders wont even consider taking the night blood serum and the line of succession will be muddled by the ones who do. However Lexa and the novitiates can keep the peace for now until they can figure out a solution or way around the problem. 

Roan is brought more into the loop and they plan to take out Nia when she starts shit with Lexa. She tries to move forward with a no-faith motion against Lexa and brings Ontari onto the stage. They shut her down quick and have her and Ontari assassinated and made to look like an accident. Roan takes over. 

The clans are told to pick out 100 survivors for the bunker, that they will be marked by a tattoo and sent to Polis in a few months to start preparations. Roan is told of an old research facility in his territory. It used to be known as Snolab (real place in Sudbury, Ontario and it only hit me as I was looking this up how Ontari probably got her name lol) and that while not outfitted as a bunker for long term residents, that Skaikru could go take a look and see what they needed to fix it up. 

Jaha has also found another old site called Greenbrier (also a real place) in what was once West Virginia and is now Shallow Valley. It was built in the mid 1900’s, never used, and decommissioned only 30 years later and became a tourist attraction which is why he had such a hard time finding it but it would be perfect for their needs. It’s convenient location was a perfect place for the night bloods to ride out the death wave and then get on with farming and setting things up for the rest of the people to come above ground in five years. 

So Raven will travel out to Azgeda with a few others to see about the snolab. Maybe have a little ice mechanic friendship started. She finds a few amenities in the lab, says it has the absolute basics like an air scrubber and water generator but they’ll need to bring in their own greenhouse and food supplies. It wont be comfortable but people can set up palettes and she judges how many can stay based on resources. Maybe only 300-600. They can pick ally clans to stay together there instead of with the others but then Lexa has to worry about a possible rebellion when they get above ground again. Roan is able to exert his own influence though and keeps them all in check and easily hands back control to Lexa when they get out. 

So plans are made and being carried out. The Exodus comes down with the night blood. They’ve already injected themselves and get the rest of the 100 and Blake injected and then organize with Lexa to take care of the grounders. They decide to visit each clan with Indra and a few guards. The ambassadors have already been sent out to explain to their clans, the 100 survivors for the polis bunker selected, and the ones who are willing to take night blood and move to Shallow Valley are prepared. 

Now realistically, this show would have something going wrong and they are ambushed somewhere by over zealous grounders trying to prevent the heretics from making everyone night bloods. But our guys would obviously win. It would make another good bonding moment for our favorite couple though. Maybe Murphy and Emori are with them and he saves her and they have their own bonding moment. Memori awesomeness ensues. 

So everything is coming together. Griffin and Blake are in Shallow Valley watching everyone prepare and get set up for the coming death wave. They still have plenty of time and everyone is working together. It’s peaceful and they finally have a moment. He just turns to her and tells her quite simply that he loves her.

She startles and turns to him and he leans his forehead against hers and tells her he’s sorry it’s taken him so long but he needs her to know now before things get crazy again. He loves her, he’s IN love with her and has been for as long as he can remember. She has tears in her eyes as she leans in and kisses him before puling back to tell him she loves him too. The get a few months to enjoy it before Praimfaya.

When the death wave hits, there’s a pulse of green light that suffuses the bunker and suck Blake and Griffin into it. Clarke and Bellamy calm the others down by explaining it looked like the same stuff they arrived from. 

Griffin and Blake get transported back to the future and are confused and startled. They are still in Shallow Valley, they are older, they can see a few Eligius people milling around and then they start getting flashes of memory.

They see their older selves arrive in the past, they see the conversation their younger selves had and how they got together ,they see the brief time in the bunker and getting back to the ground to farm and build houses for all the people still stuck underground. They see the people from snolab make their way to the valley. They see Eligius come down and Jaha almost fuck it all up by saying they needed to kill them because they were dangerous without realizing that Eligius had the better weapons and most just wanted to live in peace and have freedom now. They see themselves negotiate with Diyoza for peace and take out McCreary when he tries to start a coup. They see the release of their people from Polis.

Finally they see Clarke excitedly telling Bellamy that she’s pregnant. 

They gasp in realization that they have merged with their younger selves and both look down to her little baby bump. Because I'm a SCUKER for Bellarke babies.

The anomaly had protected Shallow Valley from the worst of the death wave but it flared and forced them back to their own time (or age really, because cryo, Sanctum and shit never happens) when it hit. However things went differently this time and they never had to leave to go to Sanctum. Things are still a bit dicey between Eligus and the coalition but just like Skaikru they are inducted in and taught their ways and how to survive. And of course the clans are united but still have bad blood between a few of them because people can’t ever just let go and be happy and they are stuck in a smaller area all together instead of spread out like they use to be, but for the most part it’s peaceful. They did better. 

Clarke and Bellamy now have the memories of two lives but the older ones are fading into a dream like quality. They can remember it but they don’t confuse it for what happened this time around. And they live Happily Ever After.

  
Sorry I got a little ramble-y towards the end but it wasn’t fleshed out as much since I hadn’t gotten to that point yet. If I had I probably would have been more detailed with a few scenes but I kept getting distracted by the logistics and grounder stuff. I had SO many notes and different versions. One where Clarke…err I mean Griffin ends up having to kill the mountain again but manages to save the people who helped hide the 100 and all the kids and Dante by putting them in an air-locked room/chamber while radiating the rest of the mountain. Then while she’s trying to get them bone marrow so they can survive she ends up bonding with a kid who reminds her of Madi and looks like they could easily be her and Blake’s biological child with dark curls, blue eyes and freckles. I had a whole little side tangent of Bellarke adopting kids during the end of the world but scrapped it since she didn’t end up killing the mountain.

Oh and I forgot to mention that when the Exodus came down it gave the people of the ark enough oxygen to last the rest of the five years and then they brought the ark down or Raven was able to fly up to get them in Becca’s rocket or the Exodus or something. Either way, everyone lives. 

So in conclusion, I have a TON of ideas but I doubt I’ll ever flesh them out into actual stories and they mostly look like what I wrote above. I suck at the actual writing part lol. Basic plot, a few scenes that get stuck in my head and that’s it. Hope you enjoyed this anyway though and sorry to keep you waiting. 

If you want to take any of these ideas and run with them in your own story, please feel free. I love reading new content.

I definitely wanted to thank all of you who reviewed and kept me going with this as long as I did. This seriously would not have been a story and would not have been posted without you guys inspiring me to write more of it. I'm just sorry I couldn't keep with it to the end. 

Feel free to hit me up over on tumblr if you want to chat about the 100 or fanfiction or anything else. I will live in this fandom forever.

sableu3.tumblr


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